14 September, 2023

Tech Giants Gather To Meet US Legislators On AI Regulation

United States Capitol is the meeting place of the US Congress and the seat of the legislative branch of the US federal government.

Elon Musk, owner of Tesla and X, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and other tech bosses have met with US legislators to discuss the future of AI.

Legislators are trying to find ways to mitigate any potential dangers from the technology and Musk has called for a regulator to help manage the situation.

“It’s important for us to have a referee,” Musk told reporters, comparing it to sports. The billionaire, who also owns the social media platform X, added that a regulator would “ensure that companies take actions that are safe and in the interest of the general public.”

Musk said the meeting was a “service to humanity” and said it “may go down in history as very important to the future of civilization.” Musk confirmed he had called AI “a double-edged sword” during the forum.

Musk, of course, will likely be calling for a regulator to slow the development of the tech. He has previously called for a postponement on developing new forms of the technology in an open letter. His own AI company, xAI, seems to be some way behind the other big tech platforms.

Zuckerberg said Congress “should engage with AI to support innovation and safeguards. This is an emerging technology, there are important equities to balance here, and the government is ultimately responsible for that.” He added it was “better that the standard is set by American companies that can work with our government to shape these models on important issues.”

More than 60 senators took part. Lawmakers said there was universal agreement about the need for government regulation of AI.

“We are beginning to really deal with one of the most significant issues facing the next generation and we got a great start on it today,” Democratic Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer, who organised the forum, told reporters from Reuters after the meetings. “We have a long way to go.”

Republican Senator Todd Young, a co-host of the forum, said he believes the Senate is “getting to the point where I think committees of jurisdiction will be ready to begin their process of considering legislation.”

Lawmakers want safeguards against potentially dangerous deep fakes such as bogus videos, election interference and attacks on critical infrastructure.

Other attendees included Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates and AFL-CIO labour federation President Liz Shuler.

Schumer emphasised the need for regulation ahead of the 2024 US general election, particularly around deep fakes.

“A lot of things that have to be done, but that one has a quicker timetable maybe than some of the others,” he said.

In March, Musk and a group of AI experts and executives called for a six-month pause in developing systems more powerful than OpenAI’s GPT-4, citing potential risks to society.

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