Global Courant
A GOP lawmaker leading Congressional response to Big Tech is calling for a committee to streamline the development of artificial intelligence technology in the US, warning that Congress is moving “too slowly” in the rapidly emerging sector.
Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., this week teamed up with Democratic Representatives Ted Lieu and Anna Eshoo to introduce the National AI Commission Act, which calls for a panel of 20 experts from various facets of AI to come together and help the U.S. advise the government on the associated risks and opportunities.
“I think we need to look at this bill very closely and move it very quickly,” Buck told Fox News Digital. “But I think we need to take our time putting the committee together, making sure we get the right people, taking the time with what the right ideas are and how to go about it.”
Buck has long been one of Capitol Hill’s most ardent opponents of Big Tech’s unchecked expansion. He confessed that Congress was acting at a slow, “deliberative” pace on AI, as usual, but argued that the committee would help with those deliberations.
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Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., speaks to Fox News Digital about his bipartisan AI committee bill that aims to accelerate Congressional response to the rapidly emerging industry.
“It took a few years to figure out what Congress wanted to do with the Internet, and the mistake that was made then was that they didn’t follow up every year on how to make it even better,” Buck said.
He continued, “And that’s what I think we need to do with this committee, keep it going long enough that we can see some of the results of the law and regulation that’s happened.”
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Congress is rushing to get ahead of AI with a slew of legislative proposals. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)
“I think we’re behind now,” Buck replied when asked if he was concerned that Capitol Hill would fall behind on AI.
“Congress is meant to be slow to act. We don’t want laws passed that affect the entire country overnight, so it’s really a deliberative process. And I think this committee will help with that deliberative process,” he said, while pace of AI development today to the emergence of the internet.
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Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., is also one of the bill’s sponsors. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
Many lawmakers who have pushed for action against AI have likened it to the internet and social media when warning colleagues to get ahead of its development to better manage the potential risks.
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“I hope Congress stays on top of this and doesn’t just shirk their responsibilities and walk away and say, ‘We did it,’ and now it’s over,” Buck warned. “We learned a lot from the first five, six years of the Internet, that Congress could have prevented some of the problems we saw 20 years later.”
Elizabeth Elkind is a political reporter for Fox News Digital.
