Rep. Jay Obernolte: Congress Doesn’t Understand the Dangers of AI
As AI continues to grow in popularity, certain U.S. representatives are calling for further legislation around the technology, but knowledge about AI is weak. Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-CA) explains, “You’d be surprised how much time I spend explaining to my colleagues that the chief dangers of AI will not come from evil robots with red lasers coming out of their eyes.”
The New York Times reports that as the Silicon Valley AI boom continues, worries about the technology’s unchecked development and the absence of regulation in the U.S. are becoming more and more prevalent. Lawmakers have done little despite the calls for regulation and growing concerns. A law to safeguard people or prevent the development of AI’s potentially dangerous aspects has not been proposed, and legislation that was recently introduced to limit AI applications like facial recognition has failed in Congress.
The lack of action is partially explained by the fact that few legislators are familiar with artificial intelligence. According to Rep. Jay Obernolte, a California Republican and the only member of Congress with a master’s degree in artificial intelligence, “before regulation, there needs to be agreement on what the dangers are, and that requires a deep understanding of what AI is. You’d be surprised how much time I spend explaining to my colleagues that the chief dangers of AI will not come from evil robots with red lasers coming out of their eyes.”