() — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman urged lawmakers to regulate artificial intelligence during a Senate hearing on Tuesday, describing the current rise of the technology as a potential “historic moment” but one that requires reassurance.
“We believe that regulatory intervention by governments will be essential to mitigate the risks of increasingly powerful models,” Altman said in his opening address to a Senate judiciary subcommittee.
Altman’s appearance comes after the viral success of ChatGPT, his company’s chatbot tool, renewed a race around artificial intelligence (AI) and raised concerns among some lawmakers about the risks posed by the technology.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal opened Tuesday’s hearing with a fake recording of his own voice, illustrating the potential risks of the technology. The recording, which included comments written by ChatGPT and audio of Blumenthal’s voice produced from recordings of his actual speeches in plenary, argued that AI cannot be allowed to develop in an unregulated environment.
Blumenthal explained that while ChatGPT accurately reflected the views of the royal lawmaker, it could just as easily have produced “an endorsement of Ukraine’s surrender or Vladimir Putin’s leadership.” That, he said, “would have been really terrifying.”
A growing list of tech companies have rolled out new AI tools in recent months, with the potential to change the way we work, shop and interact with each other. But these same tools have also drawn criticism from some of the biggest names in technology for their potential to disrupt millions of jobs, spread misinformation and perpetuate bias.
In his remarks on Tuesday, Altman said the possibility of AI being used to manipulate voters and misinform are among “my biggest areas of concern,” especially since “we’re going to be facing an election next year and these models are getting better.”
One way the US government could regulate the industry is by creating a licensing regime for companies that work on the most powerful AI systems, Altman said Tuesday. This “combination of licensing and testing requirements,” Altman said, could apply to the “development and release of AI models above a threshold of capabilities.”
Also testifying Tuesday is Christina Montgomery, IBM’s vice president and chief privacy and trust officer, and Gary Marcus, a former New York University professor and self-described critic of AI “hype.”
Montgomery warned against creating a new era of “move fast and break things,” the perennial mantra of Silicon Valley giants like Facebook. “The AI era cannot be another ‘move fast and break things’ era,” Montgomery told lawmakers. Still, he said, “we don’t have to hold back innovation either.”
Both Altman and Montgomery also said that AI can eliminate some jobs but create new ones.
“There will be an impact on employment,” Altman told Blumenthal. “We’re trying to be very clear on that, and I think it’s going to take industry-government collaboration, but mostly government action, to figure out how we want to mitigate it. But I’m very optimistic about how big the jobs of the future will be.” .
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman testifies before a Senate Privacy, Technology and Law subcommittee hearing titled ‘Oversight of Artificial Intelligence: Rules for Artificial Intelligence’ on Capitol Hill in Washington, United States, on May 16. 2023. Credit: Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters
As CEO of OpenAI, Altman, perhaps more than any other figure, has become the face of a new generation of AI products capable of generating images and text in response to user input.
Altman’s remarks come a day after meeting with more than 60 House lawmakers over dinner. At the bipartisan meeting, which was roughly evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, Altman demonstrated various uses of ChatGPT “for great amusement,” according to a person in the room who described lawmakers as “fascinated.” for the event.
Most attendees recognized that regulation of artificial intelligence will be necessary.
Ro Khanna, D-Calif., whose district includes Silicon Valley, said Altman stressed over dinner that AI is a tool, not a “creature,” and that AI “can help with tasks, not jobs.”
“Altman’s most useful contribution was toning down the hype,” Khanna told .
In a reflection of how AI has stormed Congress, even as the Judiciary subcommittee questioned OpenAI and IBM, the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee was holding a separate and concurrent hearing on the use of artificial intelligence in government.
Earlier this month, Altman was one of several technology CEOs who met with Vice President Kamala Harris and, briefly, President Joe Biden, as part of White House efforts to stress the importance of ethical development and Responsible for the AI
In interviews he has given this year, Altman has come across as aware of the risks posed by AI and even “a little scared” by the technology. He and his company are committed to moving forward responsibly.
Others want Altman and OpenAI to exercise more caution. Elon Musk, who helped found OpenAI before parting ways with the group, joined dozens of technology leaders, professors and researchers in signing a letter calling on AI labs like OpenAI to stop training AI systems. more powerful AIs for at least six months, citing “profound risks to society and humanity.”
Altman acknowledged agreeing with parts of the letter. “I think moving with caution and increasing rigor for security issues is really important,” Altman said at an event last month. “The letter I don’t think was the optimal way to approach it.”
— ‘s Jennifer Korn contributed to this report.
