Some of the biggest names in tech have been flooding Capitol Hill this week as several Congressional meetings are taking place to outline comprehensive AI regulation and policy. The main event, held Wednesday, was a closed-door meeting between all 100 senators and tech giants including Elon Musk, CEO of Twitter (now rebranded as X), Mark Zuckerburg, co-founder of facebook, Bill Gates, co-founder Microsoft, and Sam Altman, CEO of the ChatGPT company OpenAI. The forum is part of an effort by a bipartisan group of senators, led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, to create AI legislation. However, the forum has received criticism from others in the tech and media space for not being open to the public and seemingly prioritizing the opinions of tech companies over researchers, employees and activists. Among the CEOs invited to speak were also civil society members such as AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights President and CEO Maya Wiley. Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Josh Hawley of Missouri also recently introduced a framework for the US AI Act calling for more transparency in training data and registration requirements for AI companies. So, what exactly is Congress hoping to get out of these discussions? And what kind of AI regulation can we expect in the near future?
Joining us on AirTalk to talk about the future of AI policy is Sarah Myers West, managing director of AI Now Institute, an organization that conducts policy research and consultation on artificial intelligence, and Brian Ray, law professor and director of the Center for Cybersecurity and Privacy Protection at Cleveland State University.
To listen, head here.
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