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Senators Urge $32 AI Emergency Funding 05/15 06:21
A bipartisan group of four senators led by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is
recommending that Congress spend at least $32 billion over the next three years
to develop artificial intelligence and place safeguards around it, writing in a
new report released Wednesday that the U.S. needs to "harness the opportunities
and address the risks" of the quickly developing technology.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A bipartisan group of four senators led by Majority
Leader Chuck Schumer is recommending that Congress spend at least $32 billion
over the next three years to develop artificial intelligence and place
safeguards around it, writing in a new report released Wednesday that the U.S.
needs to "harness the opportunities and address the risks" of the quickly
developing technology.
The group of two Democrats and two Republicans said in an interview Tuesday
that while they sometimes disagreed on the best paths forward, it was
imperative to find consensus with the technology taking off and other countries
like China investing heavily in its development. They settled on a raft of
broad policy recommendations that were included in their 33-page report.
While any legislation related to AI will be difficult to pass, especially in
an election year and in a divided Congress, the senators said that regulation
and incentives for innovation are urgently needed.
"It's complicated, it's difficult, but we can't afford to put our head in
the sand," said Schumer, D-N.Y., who convened the group last year after AI
chatbot ChatGPT entered the marketplace and showed that it could in many ways
mimic human behavior.
The group recommends in the report that Congress draft "emergency" spending
legislation to boost U.S. investments in artificial intelligence, including new
research and development and new testing standards to try and understand the
potential harms of the technology. The group also recommended new requirements
for transparency as artificial intelligence products are rolled out and that
studies be conducted into the potential impact of AI on jobs and the U.S.
workforce.
Republican Sen. Mike Rounds, a member of the group, said the money would be
well spent not only to compete with other countries who are racing into the AI
space but also to improve Americans' quality of life -- supporting technology
that could help cure some cancers or chronic illnesses, he said, or
improvements in weapons systems could help the country avoid a war.
"This is a time in which the dollars we put into this particular investment
will pay dividends for the taxpayers of this country long term," he said.
The group came together a year ago after Schumer made the issue a priority
-- an unusual posture for a majority leader -- and brought in Democratic Sen.
Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana and Rounds
of South Dakota.
As the four senators began meeting with tech executives and experts, Schumer
said in a speech over the summer that the rapid growth of artificial
intelligence tools was a "moment of revolution" and that the government must
act quickly to regulate companies that are developing it.
Young said the development of ChatGPT, along with other similar models, made
them realize that "we're going to have to figure out collectively as an
institution" how to deal with the technology.
"In the same breath that people marveled at the possibilities of just that
one generative AI platform, they began to hypothesize about future risks that
might be associated with future developments of artificial intelligence," Young
said.
While passing legislation will be tough, the group's recommendations lay out
the first comprehensive road map on an issue that is complex and has little
precedent for consideration in Congress. The group spent almost a year
compiling the list of policy suggestions after talking privately and publicly
to a range of technology companies and other stakeholders, including in eight
forums to which the entire Senate was invited.
The first forum in September included Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of
X, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates and Google CEO
Sundar Pichai.
Schumer said after the private meeting that he had asked everyone in the
room -- including almost two dozen tech executives, advocates and skeptics --
whether government should have a role in the oversight of artificial
intelligence, and "every single person raised their hand."
The four senators are pitching their recommendations to Senate committees,
which are then tasked with reviewing them and trying to figure out what is
possible. The Senate Rules Committee is already moving forward with
legislation, voting on Wednesday on three bills that would ban deceptive AI
content used to influence federal elections, require AI disclaimers on
political ads and create voluntary guidelines for state election offices that
oversee candidates.
Schumer, who controls the Senate's schedule, said those election bills were
among the chamber's "highest priorities" this year. He also said he planned to
sit down with House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has expressed interest in looking
at AI policy but has not said how he would do that.
Some experts warn that the U.S. is behind many other countries on the issue,
including the EU which took the lead in March when they gave final approval to
a sweeping new law governing artificial intelligence in the 27-nation bloc.
Europe's AI Act sets tighter rules for the AI products and services deemed to
pose the highest risks, such as in medicine, critical infrastructure or
policing. But it also includes provisions regulating a new class of generative
AI systems like ChatGPT that have rapidly advanced in recent years.
"It's time for Congress to act," said Alexandra Reeve Givens, CEO of the
Center for Democracy & Technology. "It's not enough to focus on investment and
innovation. We need guardrails to ensure the responsible development of AI."
The senators emphasized balance between those two issues, and also the
urgency of action.
"We have the lead at this moment in time on this issue, and it will define
the relationship between the United States and our allies and other competing
powers in the world for a long time to come," Heinrich said.
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