It is said that predicting the future isn’t magic. It’s really just artificial intelligence.
If that’s the case, perhaps we should ask AI when Congress might pass a bill to regulate the emerging technology – before it spirals out of control.
There’s a push by Congressional leaders to approve a bill regulating AI when lawmakers return to Washington after the election. But the path to passage – and developing a consensus on establishing guardrails for AI – is far from certain.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., promised legislative action on AI last year.
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“It can’t be days or weeks. But nor should it be years. It’ll be in the general category of months,” said Schumer.
The New York Democrat convened multiple AI forums on Capitol Hill to educate senators about the prospects – and dangers – of AI. Schumer brought in tech titans and innovators ranging from Elon Musk to Mark Zuckerberg to Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI.
“This is sort of an important, urgent and in some ways unprecedented moment and I think we really need the government to lead,” said Altman at the time.
Many Americans have been left wondering: when will Congress move to regulate the seemingly boundless medium of generative AI? (Getty Images)
Congress has a mixed record of establishing standards and best practices for new technologies.
Samuel Morse – the inventor of Morse Code and developer of the telegraph – brought his new-fangled system to Washington to showcase for the federal government. He stretched a wire between two rooms at the Capitol in the 1840s, demonstrating how to dispatch signals and messages down the line. Morse then strung a telegraph line from Washington to Baltimore in 1844 for a private showing of the technology to Washington power brokers. Morse transmitted the words “What hath God wrought” from the Supreme Court chamber inside the Capitol. But the federal government didn’t buy it. And that’s partly why…
