Artificial Intelligence Series I Senate Committee
The topic of Artificial Intelligence, with its enormous scope and what little we actually know—many times still in an intuitive stage—has led to a real cascade of studies, opinions, controversies, and heated debates that occur almost daily.
Our Laboratory understands that one of the best services it can provide to all those people and organizations who follow our work is to offer a selected Series of those opinions, positions, and debates, practically up to the day they occur, to genuinely keep informed those who are keeping an eye on what is happening and our perspective on it.
By the way, the Laboratory is working on its Artificial Intelligence Microlab and will appropriately share its conclusions and perceptions in due course. However, the urgency of the topic does not allow for too many delays. That is why today we launch a Series, the Artificial Intelligence Series, which we hope will be a catalyst for analysis, reflection, and conclusions about the projection that such an important issue forces us to address. No one—governments, international organizations, regional bodies, think tanks, and individuals—can remain indifferent to its evolution.
As always, we hope our service can be useful.
THE U.S. SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE WANTS TO REGULATE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.
The executive and legislative authorities of the major developed countries are deeply concerned about the operation of this technology and its consequences, and are extremely active in addressing it. The same level of understanding and activity is not perceivable – at least the facts show this – in most developing countries. It is clear that the effects of this phenomenon will be of universal reach.
OpenAI CEO Samuel (“Sam”) Harris Altman[i] is preparing to testify before the U.S. Congress, presenting an argument to assert that the AI era led by ChatGPT needs rules before it’s too late.
Altman believes it is necessary to tell Congress that his AI invention, ChatGPT, must follow certain rules. The CEO of OpenAI will appear before Congress as concerns about the risks of AI rise both politically and popularly. Legislators are preparing to introduce rules governing the technology before any serious harm occurs. Interestingly, Altman himself is asking for legal measures—applicable universally, both for his company and its competition—giving up the possibility of offering a self-regulation agreement. On one hand, there are certainly concerns about the uncertainties of how much further development will occur and what the consequences of AI will be, and on the other…
The head of OpenAI will testify before a subpanel of the Senate Judiciary Committee. According to prepared comments seen by the British newspaper Financial Times, he will say that he is “eager to help lawmakers” create regulation “that balances safety incentives while ensuring people can access the benefits of technology.” He will request the introduction of “essential” regulation as U.S. lawmakers rush to introduce rules governing how AI is used and marketed.
The testimony comes at a crucial moment when the launch of ChatGPT by OpenAI in November introduced consumer-driven AI to the world. This sparked a new AI race as tech giants like Microsoft and Google compete to lead AI development.
The spread of generative AI tools like ChatGPT has raised concerns among lawmakers about the potential harm they could cause. This includes the possibilities of accelerating the spread of misinformation and the expectations that millions of people may lose their jobs worldwide.
A clear indication of the latest information is that most U.S. tech companies are already showing signs that they are willing to replace workers with AI while seeking cost-cutting measures to make operations more efficient. A March report from Goldman Sachs suggested that AI could affect around 300 million jobs.
Ahead of the hearing, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (Democrat, Connecticut since 2011) previewed that Artificial Intelligence “urgently needs rules and safeguards to address its immense promise and dangers,” with clear standards necessary to “help us navigate this unknown territory.”
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (Republican, Missouri since 2019) shared a similar sentiment, stating that AI “will be transformative in ways we can’t even imagine, with implications for elections, jobs, and the safety of Americans.”
This appears to signal the Judiciary Subpanel’s shared opinion on the necessity of moving forward with regulation.
[i] Samuel Harris Altman (Chicago, Illinois, United States, April 22, 1985), known as Sam Altman, is an American entrepreneur, investor, programmer, and blogger. He is the CEO of OpenAI and former president of Y Combinator. Altman grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. He received his first computer at the age of 8. He attended John Burroughs High School and studied computer science at Stanford University until he dropped out in 2005. In 2017, he received an honorary degree from the University of Waterloo. In 2005, at the age of 19, Altman co-founded and became CEO of Loopt, a location-based social networking mobile app. After raising over $30 million in venture capital, Loopt shut down in 2012 after failing to gain traction. It was acquired by Green Dot Corporation for $43.4 million.
Altman began as a part-time partner at Y Combinator in 2011. In February 2014, Altman was appointed president of Y Combinator by its co-founder Paul Graham. His first batch of investments included Loopt. In a 2014 blog post, Altman stated that the total valuation of Y Combinator companies had surpassed $65 billion, including well-known companies such as Airbnb, Dropbox, Zenefits, and Stripe. In September 2016, Altman announced that he would become president of YC Group, which included Y Combinator and other units. In October 2015, Altman announced YC Continuity, a $700 million growth-stage fund investing in YC companies. Also in October 2015, Altman announced Y Combinator Research, a nonprofit research lab, and donated $10 million to the group. YC Research has announced research on basic income, the future of computing, education, and the building of new cities.
Altman is the CEO of OpenAI. OpenAI is a research company…ación cuyo objetivo es promover la inteligencia artificial de una manera que probablemente beneficie a la humanidad en su conjunto, en lugar de causar daño. La organización fue financiada inicialmente por Altman, Brockman, Elon Musk, Jessica Livingston, Peter Thiel, Amazon Web Services, Infosys y YC Research. En total, cuando la empresa se lanzó en 2015, había recaudado mil millones de dólares de financiadores externos.