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OpenAI’s Sam Altman To Sit With Congress Panel To Discuss AI Regulation

For months, AI has been in the crosshairs of the American lawmakers. However, they have faced obstacles in determining what guardrails will be put on the technology.

All this is set to change soon as Congress is set to meet with AI leaders to discuss the same. On Tuesday, 16th May 2023, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will make his first appearance in front of a Senate panel. The panel will be a bipartisan group of House members from both sides,

Some of the topics to be discussed will include the risk AI posits on people’s lives or livelihoods like in medicine and finance. Another is ensuring that AI systems uphold the civil rights of people and do not spread antisemitic propaganda.

As per Reuters, a strong debate is set to be had on where exactly regulation on AI will be enforced. To this end, there are two proposals.

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One is that the developer should be regulated while on the other hand, it is the company that uses an AI model to interact with consumers that should be regulated. As of yet, there are no clues of the possible outcomes from these congressional meetings regarding AI.

However, IBM among other companies in tech and the US Chamber of Commerce is calling for targeted regulation. This includes critical areas such as medical diagnosis and finance which they term as a risk-based approach to regulation.

Earlier in May, the Biden administration sat with top tech executives in AI. The meeting, hosted at the White House by VP Kamala Harris, reminded these leaders of their responsibilities in AI development.

After the meeting, the administration has taken proactive measures toward AI regulation led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Schumer has in the past few weeks met with over 10 AI experts looking to craft legislation that will install safeguards to AI and be acceptable to both AI developers and Congress.

“Our goal is to maximize the good that can come of it [artificial intelligence]. … And there can be tremendous good, but minimize the bad that can come of it. … But to do it is easier said than done,” Schumer admits.

“It’s a very difficult issue, AI because a) it’s moving so quickly and b) because it’s so vast and changing so quickly,” Schumer adds.  As NPR claims in support of Schumer’s statement on the difficulty of Congress’ lackluster history of regulating emerging technologies.