https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-66804996
The forum was convened by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and featured tech CEOs as well as civil rights advocates. Tech executives present at the meeting included Tesla and X (formerly Twitter) owner Elon Musk, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, and Google chief Sundar Pichai. Former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates and current Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella were also present at the event.
The power of artificial intelligence—both positive and negative—has become a topic of keen interest to policymakers around the world. In May, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, testified before a US Senate committee, describing the potential pitfalls of the new technology. ChatGPT and other similar programs can provide incredibly human-like answers to questions, but can also be wildly inaccurate.
"I think if this technology goes wrong, the consequences could be serious... we want to be transparent about that," Mr. Altman said. “We want to work with the government to prevent this from happening,” he said.
There are concerns that the technology could lead to mass layoffs, fraud and make misinformation more credible. Artificial intelligence companies have also been criticized for training their models on data obtained from the Internet without permission or payment to the creators.
In April, Musk told the BBC: "I think there should be a regulatory body to oversee AI to make sure it doesn't pose a risk to society." At Wednesday's meeting, he said the world needs an "arbiter" on artificial intelligence. “I think we'll probably see something happen. I don’t know when and how exactly this will manifest itself,” he told reporters after.
Mr. Zuckerberg said Congress “must engage with AI to support innovation and security measures.” He added that "it's better if the standards are set by American companies that can work with the government to shape those models on important issues."
Republican Sen. Mike Rounds said it will take time for Congress to take action. “Are we ready to go out and write the law? Absolutely not,” Mr. Rounds said. Democratic Sen. Cory Booker said all participants agreed that "the government has a regulatory role to play," but crafting legislation remains a challenge.
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