Spooked by ChatGPT, US Lawmakers Want to Create an AI Regulator

SINCE THE TECH industry began its love affair with machine learning about a decade ago, US lawmakers have chattered about the potential need for regulation to rein in the technology. No proposal to regulate corporate AI projects has got close to becoming law—but OpenAI’s release of ChatGPT last November has convinced some senators that there is now an urgent need to do something to protect people’s rights against the potential harms of AI technology.

At a hearing held by a Senate Judiciary subcommittee yesterday, attendees heard a terrifying laundry list of ways artificial intelligence can harm people and democracy. Senators from both parties spoke in support of creating a new arm of the US government dedicated to regulating AI. The idea even got the backing of Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.

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The Center for Data Innovation, a tech think tank, said in a letter released after yesterday’s hearing that the US doesn’t need a new regulator for AI. “Just as it would be ill-advised to have one government agency regulate all human decision-making, it would be equally ill-advised to have one agency regulate all AI,” the letter said.

“I don’t think it’s pragmatic, and it’s not what they should be thinking about right now,” says Hodan Omaar, a senior analyst at the center.

Omaar says the idea of booting up a whole new agency for AI is improbable given that Congress has yet to follow through on other necessary tech reforms, like the need for overarching data privacy protections. She believes it is better to update existing laws and allow federal agencies to add AI oversight to their existing regulatory work.