Big tech CEOs urge Senate to regulate artificial intelligence

Charles E. Schumer told reporters that the senators reaffirmed "the need to do something fairly immediate before the election."

Elon Musk y Mark Zuckerberg, dos de los CEO de las grandes tecnológicas que asistieron al foro sobre la IA en Capitol Hill el 13 de septiembre de 2023. — (YouTube / AP)

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Rosana Rábago Sainz

14 de septiembre, 2023

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Artificial intelligence could soon be regulated in the United States. A total of sixty senators met on Wednesday with the CEOs of the big technology companies, including Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, to discuss the legislation of this technological advance. And, as Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) told the press, all executives agreed on urging the Senate to regulate AI as soon as possible:

I asked everyone in the room, does government need to play a role in regulating AI? And every single person raised their hands, even though they had diverse views. That gives us a message — we have to try to act, as difficult as the process is.

In fact, Schumer noted, the senators ratified "the need to do something fairly immediate before the election," especially in the face of the rise of technology such as deepfakes and AI watermarks. However, regulating this technology, Schumer said, is a "difficult job" that needs to be addressed:

It’s a big challenge. This is the hardest thing that I think we have ever undertaken. But we can’t be like ostriches and put our head in the sand, because if we don’t step forward, things will be a lot worse.

Schumer said they need to create AI legislation in a matter of months, not years. However, they should also regulate with caution to avoid the same thing happening to them as to the European Union which, he recalled, had to modify its AI Law again in June of this year:

If you go too fast, you could ruin things. The EU went too fast, and now they have to go back. So what we’re saying is, on a timeline, it can’t be days or weeks, but nor should it be years. It will be in the general category of months.

This meeting, which lasted six hours, is the first within the AI Insight Forum to regulate this technology. It is expected that the Senate will soon convene the directors to continue with these meetings.