Ted Cruz urged caution in regulating artificial intelligence: Congress "doesn't know what the hell it's doing"

The Senate recently announced that it would begin educating itself about artificial intelligence, particularly the potential dangers to national security. In this context, Ted Cruz (R-TX) spoke out and put the brakes on his colleagues. In his view, Congress "doesn't know what the hell it is doing" concerning AI due to the advanced age of many of its members.

Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Majority Leader in the Upper House, scheduled three briefings for his colleagues. As previously reported by Voz Media, the first will act as an overview of artificial intelligence; the second will focus on how to get the U.S. to lead in its development globally, while the third classified meeting will address the implications of AI in defense and intelligence.

"We must take the time to learn from the leading minds in AI across all sectors and consider both the benefits and risks of this technology. In the coming days, we will provide more details on dates, times and speakers," the Democrat said in a statement, also signed by Mike Rounds (R-SD), Todd Young (R-IN) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM).

Cruz jumped into the very active debate on Capitol Hill over whether to regulate artificial intelligence technology and, if so, how. The problem is finding a balance between non-regulation and over-regulation, which could stifle innovation and U.S. leadership in the field.

"To be honest, Congress doesn't know what the hell it's doing in this area. This is an institution [where] I believe the average age in the Senate is approximately 142 years. This is not a technology-savvy group," the senator told POLITICO.

The senator wants to avoid at all costs that his authoritarian rivals, specifically China, lead the world in this matter. "I think we need a comprehensive strategy to deal with China like we had with Ronald Reagan to deal with the Soviet Union and ultimately to win the Cold War," he said. If Beijing succeeds in its goal of leading the world in AI, "that would be profoundly dangerous for the United States from a national defense perspective, but also certainly from an economic perspective," added the Texan, who will seek a third term in the Senate in 2024.

In April, Schumer issued a set of principles for regulating AI and called on lawmakers to draft laws on its transparency and ethical use. This was the beginning of a series of hearings in the Senate, in which leading entrepreneurs in the sector, such as the CEO of OpenAI, participated.