Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) has his eye on artificial intelligence, along with a bipartisan group of lawmakers who recognize the profound impact of the technology.
He has long recognized AI鈥檚 potential 鈥� noting its development goes back decades 鈥� but understands the average American is only now coming to grips with its implications.
鈥淚t begins with the idea of machine learning, which is the idea of putting lots and lots of data into our computers,鈥� Beyer said during 海角精品黑料鈥檚 Road to Responsible AI event. 鈥淎nd looking for connections, for correlations, or even causes that we may not be able to see as human beings because there鈥檚 just too much data out there.鈥�
Beyer noted one of his favorite 鈥渇actoids鈥� is that more information was generated in 2023 than in the first 2,000 years since the birth of Jesus Christ all together.
But gathering all that information into computers comes with a lot of responsibility.
Beyer pointed out that a lot of ethical issues come up in the area of healthcare, for example. People don鈥檛 want a machine deciding whether they qualify for a type of medicine or surgery, for instance.
鈥淲e still want a doctor or human being to make help us make that decision together,鈥� Beyer said. 鈥淎nd so, a lot of what we鈥檙e working on in Congress right now is trying to make sure that human beings are the final agents in the use of AI.鈥�
The AI Caucus in Congress
Congress is often criticized for its need to catch up to developing trends and technologies. But there is an that includes Beyer and members of both parties.
Beyer noted that before the November presidential election, lawmakers met and endorsed more than a dozen bills related to AI.
鈥淭he expectation is every one of us would co-sponsor every one of those bills,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o we鈥檙e trying to get ahead of it, and I hope and expect that we will pass up to a dozen meaningful AI bills this year 鈥� put them on the president鈥檚 desk.鈥�
Beyer contrasted that with how Congress failed for many years to address critical issues involving social media. He noted that for decades, lawmakers did little, except make it more difficult to sue social media companies.
Also, it wasn鈥檛 until relatively recently that and how they point users, including children, to specific content.
Beyer said lawmakers are trying to make sure AI is more transparent.
鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to make sure that the database models as they move forward, do you understand what what鈥檚 in the data, where did the data come from?鈥� Beyer said. 鈥淎nd that you really test it to make sure that the results coming out are actually true.鈥�
AI developers have continued to deal with what they call hallucinations, which can create incorrect or nonsensical outputs.
Coming AI legislation
Beyer is a sponsor of the , which is now being considered by Congress.
He said it鈥檚 directed at AI products and their makers, like Anthropic, Google ,Microsoft and OpenAI.
鈥淭he first thing I want to know is, what are you training your data on?鈥� Beyer said. 鈥淲here is this data coming from, so that we have some sense of security that it wasn鈥檛 6 trillion words off the internet.鈥�
Secondly, the legislation seeks information on how companies test their data.
Also, how does the product reach its conclusion? 鈥淩ight now, there鈥檚 so much of AI that seems to be magic,鈥� Beyer said.
Lawmakers want the AI models to not only provide suggestions but to provide information about why the models are making those suggestions.
While lawmakers want transparency and accountability, Beyer said the legislation can鈥檛 be overbearing. He points to what the has done, which he said is 鈥渨idely seen as very prescriptive, very regulatory.鈥�
The goal of the House bill he said is to create regulations that have 鈥渁 light touch. We want people still to be creative and feel they have a lot of freedom to innovate.鈥�
Looking ahead into AI鈥檚 future
Beyer said he鈥檚 encouraged by the progress that has been made on AI bills that have moved forward even though none of them on their own is 鈥渓ife changing.鈥�
鈥淲e weren鈥檛 naive enough to think we were going to build some huge superstructure of legislation right away,鈥� he said. 鈥淟et鈥檚 do it little by little and try to get it right.鈥�
One of the areas lawmakers are looking at is 鈥渄eep fake鈥� ads that have the potential to play havoc with political campaigns.
Among the efforts is to require a disclaimer if a political ad uses AI. But Beyer said it can get complicated and the Federal Election Commission has been unwilling so far 鈥渢o pick up that gauntlet.鈥�
鈥淏ut Congress is getting close to trying to do something meaningful,鈥� he said.
As for his constituents, when he talks to them about AI, they have both curiosity and some fear.
He said the biggest fear for many is the possibility that it will cause people to lose jobs by being replaced by computers.
Beyer said he understands that concern but overall feels a great deal of optimism about how AI can positively transform the world.
鈥淢y great optimism is from what it is doing for health care,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ur kids, our grandkids are going to be living to 110 to120 years old. The breakthroughs on health care 鈥� every single day 鈥� are really exciting for us.鈥�
Discover more articles and videos now on 海角精品黑料鈥檚 Road to Responsible AI event page.
