Hawley, Blumenthal Near Agreement on Bill Regulating AI
Expect legislation for regulating artificial intelligence from Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., to be introduced “soon,” Hawley told us Thursday.
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They hosted a hearing on the topic in May as party leaders on the Senate Privacy Subcommittee. AI is getting increased attention on Capitol Hill, with efforts led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who has convened bipartisan discussions. “We’re doing a very, very thorough look at the whole situation in a bipartisan way,” Schumer told us Thursday.
“I would hope that we would be able to move pretty soon toward actual legislation,” said Hawley. “I think I’d look for something from the two of us soon.” Hawley noted the need to grant individuals the right to sue, protect children online and the exclusion of Chinese chip technology.
“There are a lot of ongoing conversations,” said Blumenthal. “I think [Schumer] is very intent that we take steps to protect children on the internet. ... The goal is to produce legislation as quickly as possible.” Blumenthal said he plans to issue a blueprint detailing what kind of “guardrails” and “licensing requirements” can be applied to the technology and what sort of agency should enforce them. Hawley issued his own set of guiding principles for legislation Wednesday. In addition to a private right of action, child protections and exclusions for Chinese technology, Hawley’s guidelines include deploying a licensing system and “stiff” penalties for data privacy abuse. “We can pursue multiple lines of effort at once,” said Hawley. “I think the big comprehensive bill, that usually doesn’t work out so great.”
Some members of Congress are skeptical about the ability of Congress to effectively regulate the technology. “I don’t know how you’re going to regulate something that doesn’t have boundaries,” Senate Intelligence Committee ranking member Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told us. “It doesn’t have borders. Whatever we regulate here, someone else is going to make. Maybe there’s a way to do it, but I don’t know how you do it.”
Setting ethical standards will be key, said Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla.: “The genie’s out of the bottle in many ways. The technology is going to thrive, it’s going to exist. I think the biggest challenge we have now is setting more ethical standards and legal stance for how it can be used and disclosure of when it’s used.” IBM, Microsoft and OpenAI urged Congress to issue AI regulations (see 2305250037) and several agencies, including the FTC (see 2304250054 and 2305180050), are exploring how their authorities apply to the technology.
Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told us the U.S. should be in step with Europe on regulating the technology. The first thing is to have a “collaborative process” with “our natural economic allies,” he said: Once there’s consensus, countries like China can then “sign” on to the program.
“We need to have a regulatory system that keeps us safe,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. “It’s pretty clear that the companies that profit from AI cannot be left to pretend to regulate themselves. Our responsibility is to our children, to our economy and to the security of our work. That’s what we’ve got to do here in Congress.”