(Bloomberg) — The U.S. needs to protect Americans from the risks posed by artificial intelligence while promoting the emerging technology with at least $32 billion in annual government spending to stay ahead of rivals like China , according to a highly anticipated political plan from a bipartisan party. group of senators.
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Congress should craft legislation that mitigates the potential harms of AI and funds research to boost the U.S. economy and national security, according to the plan released Wednesday by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. U.S. companies including OpenAI, Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Meta Platforms Inc. currently hold the global lead, but China’s race to develop highly advanced systems is putting pressure on policymakers to devise an approach longer lasting.
The funding “will keep our companies, our universities, our workers at the forefront and will consolidate America’s dominance in AI, including outpacing competition from the Chinese government, which we know is already investing many dollars in this area,” Schumer said when unveiling the funding document. 30 pages.
The project culminates more than a year of activities on Capitol Hill to familiarize senators with AI, a first step toward eventually drafting legislation governing the rapidly evolving technology. Senators last year held a series of closed-door forums with labor and technology industry leaders, including Sam Altman of OpenAI, Sundar Pichai of Google, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta and Elon Musk of Tesla Inc., to examine the vast implications from AI to everything from national security to jobs to individual privacy.
Rapid developments in AI have fueled concerns that the technology could fuel the spread of misinformation and expose consumers’ personal data. Executives from Google, Microsoft, IBM and OpenAI have called for more federal oversight to help ensure security, and three dozen venture capital firms agreed to fulfill voluntary commitments after President Joe Biden in October signed an executive order that established initial safeguards and built on previous industry commitments.
Policymakers in Washington have sought to build on that effort, harnessing the promise of AI to advance scientific discovery and resolve global crises while working to limit its dangers. Wednesday’s framework was designed to strike that regulatory balance and drive legislative action, the senators said.
His recommendations, especially on funding, will be a major effort to get through a bitterly divided Congress. House Speaker Mike Johnson faces relentless pressure from conservative Republicans to cut spending, and lawmakers have a historically weak record of regulating new technologies, further dimming prospects for results — especially during an election year.
However, framing your plan as a way to counter Beijing could help your cause. Challenging China on economic and national security has been a rare area of consensus among lawmakers, most recently in a new law that passed with broad bipartisan support requiring TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance Ltd., to sell the popular app. of sharing videos or face a ban in the US.
Schumer struck an upbeat tone as he briefed reporters ahead of the plan’s release, saying he intends to meet with Johnson in the coming weeks to find a way forward. Its co-authors — Republicans Mike Rounds and Todd Young, along with Democrat Martin Heinrich — said they hope their proposal will establish action as early as this year.
Some of the AI project’s goals, such as safeguarding elections against deepfakes and disinformation, could find broad support in Congress, as lawmakers in both parties are vulnerable to such manipulation by foreign adversaries. The plan also calls for exploring ways to minimize the impact of job displacement as a result of artificial intelligence, including through retraining workers, while doing more to protect consumer privacy and minimize bias.
The $32 billion figure for non-defense areas like health and energy was originally recommended in 2021 by the National Security Commission on AI, an independent board led by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. A portion of that funding would go toward agency-led research programs to promote further innovation. Promoting the use of AI in healthcare is another area the senators urged fellow lawmakers to explore further.
U.S. efforts to create guardrails lag behind other governments, including the European Union, where parliament in March approved the most comprehensive regulation of AI in the Western world. The EU measure bans the use of AI to detect emotions in workplaces and schools, while limiting its deployment in high-risk situations such as sorting job applications.
In addition to the Schumer-led plan, lawmakers have released several other bipartisan proposals that, for example, would bolster government use of AI or protect artists from being imitated by AI without their consent. The senators’ roadmap directs congressional committees to refine and advance AI legislation, and cites some existing bills they support, such as one that would create a shared national research center for educators and students to develop the technology.
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