By: Harini Sridhar

Concerns addressed in the hearing with the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law on Tuesday, May 16th,  primarily focused on the involvement of the government in regulating the use of artificial intelligence, considering the impact it has had and is predicted to have on society, along with if it acts as a threat to job sectors and opportunities. The hearing involved the CEO of OpenAI and creator of ChatGPT, Sam Altman, testifying before the subcommittee, where he argued for the need for the government to aid in limiting the impacts of AI if it exceeds what it was intended to do. The hearing also included IBM Vice President and Chief Trust and Privacy Officer Christina Montgomery and Gary Marcus, a former NYU professor testifying before Congress. A view discussed during the hearing was the idea of having a narrow and targeted vision of how AI can be used in specific areas but not as the face of technology itself. Another solution introduced was the creation of a new federal agency that would specialize in the analysis of AI programs before they were released to the public. Based on the AI boom and the massive usage of AI, it is important that we have someone powerful to regulate it appropriately because not all AI programs that are being created are intended to cause no harm or are unrelated to private profits. New features on various apps and websites show an implementation of AI that involves an imitation of a personality or duplication of a voice that can give users a very realistic experience on their applications. This could give way for people to be influenced by misinformation, which can be particularly harmful during events like election campaigns. 

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Altman was optimistic about the impact of AI on job growth if both the AI industry and the government worked together towards a common goal. However, this would require additional investments in training and educating the workforce across different industries with AI-related skills. Of the several precedent proposals to regulate technology, few have been able to successfully pass Congress, be made into legislation, and be appropriately executed.

With concerns and debates surrounding the level of government intervention in social media companies such as TikTok and Meta not being able to successfully protect users’ information and allegations of data misuse, Congress is advised to consider stepping in for the regulation of AI to avoid risks and threats.

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Image Citation : 

Association for Supply Chain Management     (https://www.ascm.org/ascm-insights/scm-now-impact/embracing-the-power-of-ai/)