In a historic closed-door session on Capitol Hill, the heavyweights of the US technology industry met with US lawmakers to address one of the fundamental issues of our era and the near future: the need to regulate artificial intelligence (AI).
For the first time, leaders like Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla; Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta (formerly Facebook); Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet (Google's parent company); and Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, among many others, appeared together in the Senate to offer their vision on this issue. The key lies in how and to what extent AI regulation should be implemented, given that there seems to be a general consensus to avoid the European approach, which they consider very restrictive.
The attendance of these twenty executives, whose combined income exceeds the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of most countries, underscores the importance of the issue. Many of them have previously advocated for control measures in a sector that has experienced explosive growth and captured the attention of society since the launch of the ChatGPT chatbot less than a year ago.
Elon Musk, speaking to the press after the meeting, highlighted the importance of an arbitrator in this field as it is "very important for the future of human civilization", and called AI "a double-edged sword". He stressed the need for a regulator to ensure that companies take safe and public-benefit actions. "Schumer asked us to raise our hands to see if we were in favor of regulating AI, and I think almost all of us did," he explained.
For his part, Mark Zuckerberg said he would prefer that American companies set standards in collaboration with the government on crucial issues: "Congress should collaborate on artificial intelligence for innovation and guarantees. This is an emerging technology , so there are issues that must be addressed and ultimately it is up to the authorities to do so. That is why I agree that Congress should collaborate with AI to support innovation and safeguards," he explained according to a transcript of his words. published by Meta.
The Democratic leader in the Senate, Charles Schumer, has the ambition to pass legislation on AI next year, before the presidential elections in November, in order to avoid the possible influence of this technology on the electoral process, and businessmen It seems that they are up to the task: "I asked if they agree to regulate artificial intelligence and each of them raised their hand despite having different opinions," the senator himself revealed to the press after the session.
This legislation has two goals: to encourage the rapid development of AI and its benefits, while mitigating risks before this technology is fully integrated into everyday life. Lawmakers seek to control threats such as election interference, the spread of false information and attacks on critical infrastructure.
The goal is to avoid a repeat of what happened in previous technology sectors, such as social networks, which expanded without regulation and now face problems such as the spread of fake news and harmful content. However, attempts to regulate these platforms in the US Congress have encountered obstacles, in part due to pressure from powerful technology companies and divergences among legislators themselves.
The regulation of AI is an unprecedented challenge due to its technological complexity, its constant evolution and its global impact. Schumer admitted that this is one of the most difficult issues ever addressed because of these complexities.
Unlike the European approach, which has moved forward with legislation that classifies AI products and services based on their level of risk and requires safeguards, tech leaders on Capitol Hill appear to be seeking lighter regulation that encourages innovation while mitigating the risks.
The session also featured the participation of other technology leaders, such as Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia; Arvind Krishna, CEO of IBM; Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI; and Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO union center, was also present.
The launch of the ChatGPT chatbot less than a year ago generated massive interest in AI and its seemingly limitless capabilities, and while these technologies offer great potential, they also raise concerns about their use and their impact on employment and society at large.
The debate on the regulation of AI is going on for a long time, and although congressmen seek to better understand this technology and its risks, the drafting and approval of legislation in this regard will continue to be a difficult challenge to resolve. The White House has already made voluntary commitments to AI companies, and measures such as including watermarks on AI-generated content have been proposed to increase transparency and mitigate confusion between human- and machine-generated content.
The outcome of this debate and how the United States approaches AI regulation will have significant implications for the tech industry and society as a whole.
