Does the U.S. need new laws to prevent the worst-case scenarios for AI?

“The 360” shows you diverse perspectives on the day’s top stories and debates.

Illustration by Alex Cochran for Yahoo News; photos: Weiquan Lin/Getty Images, Getty Images
Illustration by Alex Cochran for Yahoo News; photos: Weiquan Lin/Getty Images, Getty Images

What’s happening

Rapid improvements in artificial intelligence have led to countless predictions about how the technology might improve our lives. At the same time, it has also inspired deep concern about the dangers it may pose.

Some of the same people who believe AI products like chatbots and image creators can make us more efficient, creative and generally happier say they could also cause incredible harm if not properly controlled. They worry that AI could be used to promote misinformation, perpetuate racial and gender bias, undermine education and threaten jobs — all problems that could become more severe as the models become more sophisticated. There are also plenty of technologists who fear AI could ultimately bring about human extinction.

These fears have inspired a global push for new laws to regulate the use of AI in hopes that guardrails can mitigate the biggest dangers of the technology while allowing its potential benefits to grow. It’s not just lawmakers and critics calling for limits on AI; some developers of the most powerful AI tools also say legislation is desperately needed to prevent worst-case scenarios.

“I think if this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong,” Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI told the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this month, and added that products like his company's popular language model ChatGPT could cause “significant harm to the world.”

Unlike recent congressional hearings focused on technology that have been dominated by partisan grandstanding and intense criticism for Big Tech CEOs, the conversation about AI was largely amicable, with nearly all participants agreeing that some sort of new regulation is needed to keep this swiftly evolving technology in check.

What those new laws might look like is less clear. Altman argued in favor of a licensing system in which the government would approve — and potentially revoke — a company’s right to develop powerful AI systems. Others have called for the creation of a new government agency to oversee AI. The European Union is currently considering a sweeping set of reforms that would create strict transparency rules for “high-risk” AI models and ban certain uses, like real-time facial recognition and so-called predictive policing.

Why there’s debate

Despite AI regulations being the rare issue where many Democrats, Republicans and industry leaders are in agreement, there’s a lot of debate over whether Congress can craft the kind of legislation that would help avoid the worst outcomes without stifling the technology altogether.

“We had the same choice when we faced social media. We failed to seize that moment,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said during the hearing. Like Blumenthal, backers of new regulations say laws are needed now to stop the harms of AI from becoming so pervasive that they can’t be effectively reined in.

Some skeptics, though they support the concept of AI regulation, argue that the notoriously tech-illiterate members of Congress simply don’t have the knowledge to craft rules that would make much of a difference. Others say AI is developing at such a breakneck speed that even a well-designed new law would be woefully out of date by the time it went into effect.

A number of experts fear that lawmakers may rely too much on guidance from major AI companies when drafting new rules, allowing people like Altman to design a system that gives them too much leeway and lets a handful of firms monopolize what could become one of the world’s most important industries. There are also critics who oppose regulating AI at all, arguing that any restrictions will stifle innovation and derail the technology from becoming the world-changing tool it has the potential to become.

What’s next

Despite a relative sense of urgency around the need for AI regulations in Washington, there’s no clear timeline for when any bill to create them might come up for a vote in Congress. The European Union Parliament is scheduled to hold a decisive vote on its proposed AI plan next month.

Perspectives

Congress has a duty to protect Americans from the dangers of AI

“Freedom has always required a good dose of self-control and ethical conduct, as well as a large amount of patience for those who will take advantage of it. … Any regulatory agency setting rules for AI will have to tread delicately around free speech rights. But that doesn’t absolve us from setting those rules, negating real risks to our existence, involving scientists who know more than lawmakers with unsound knowledge and keeping a wary eye on this new technology as its algorithms dance and twirl around us.” — Jay Evensen, Deseret News

Regulations can make a major difference, but only if they become a reality soon

“AI will continue to evolve and change all our lives. To ensure that it improves our lives, we cannot continue to operate in the current ‘Wild West.’ … In the case of AI: Act now, or you might not have a chance tomorrow!” — Ioana Petrescu, The Hill

Hastily passed laws may not address the actual dangers AI will create

“Right now, generative A.I. technology is changing so quickly that it’s difficult to predict what it will look like five or 10 years down the road. It’s harder to predict what social or economic problems A.I. is likely to cause, and still harder to anticipate what policy changes are likely to be helpful. So it’s not obvious to me that Congress’s sense of urgency on this issue is justified. … It might make more sense to wait a year or two and see how A.I. technology evolves before passing a major bill to regulate A.I.” — Timothy B. Lee, Slate

With the right laws in place, AI can become an enormous force for good

“If handled in the right way, the potential benefits of AI could be huge. But this current approach is less likely to boost the country’s coffers and more likely to enrich entrepreneurs and investors while society is left to bear the costs.” — Editorial, The Guardian

Regulations would create AI monopolies and ensure the AI never reaches its full potential

“In everything from banking to Uber, we have seen industry incumbents lobby for more regulations because they know these barriers to entry will block their competitors and, as established entities, they can weather them more easily. It’s a crony-capitalist way of pulling up the ladder behind you to ensure long-term profits by using the government to block your would-be competitors.” — Brad Polumbo, Washington Examiner

Congress is probably too broken to get its act together on AI

“There’s just one problem: Nobody on Capitol Hill agrees on what to do about AI, how to do it — or even why. … The legislative chaos threatens to leave Washington at sea as generative AI explodes onto the scene — potentially one of the most disruptive technologies to hit the workplace and society in generations.” — Brendan Bordelon and Mohar Chatterjee, Politico

Congress prefers to make a show of pretending to address problems in tech while never actually doing anything

“When lawmakers ignore groundwork laid elsewhere, preferring instead to grandstand about pioneering new policies in alliance with powerful technologists like Altman, they succeed in generating plenty of hype about their coming alleged accomplishments. But they risk achieving nothing.” — Parmy Olson, Bloomberg

AI is changing too fast for any laws to effectively control it

“As with all revolutionary technologies, the ability of governments to effectively regulate [AI] will almost certainly fall short. This is no criticism of lawmakers and regulators, but a side effect of the basic fact that law advances incrementally while technology evolves exponentially.” — Blair Levin and Larry Downes, Harvard Business Review

Lawmakers can’t afford to repeat the mistakes they made with social media

“Congress has proved capable at hauling tech executives to Capitol Hill for these type of sessions, but has proved frustratingly incapable of the hard decision-making or reaching agreements across the aisle that goes into making actual laws. While it is a sign of progress that senators at least seem to realize their failures of recent years, it is time for them to act instead of ceding control of tech regulation to Europe.” — Therese Poletti, MarketWatch

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Illustration by Alex Cochran for Yahoo News; photos: Weiquan Lin/Getty Images, Getty Images