The executive director and co-founder of Open AI, developer of the text generation program with Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, Sam Altman, asked the United States Congress this Tuesday to regulate the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI).
In an appearance before a Senate subcommittee, Altman listed the technology’s useful applications, from medicine to combating the climate crisis, and hoped that the AI can be used for the benefit of humanity.
But he clarified that the intervention of the government is necessary in the world to ensure that these tools are developed in a way that protects and respects the rights and freedoms of citizens.
“We believe that the benefits of the tools we have developed so far outweigh the risks,” the entrepreneur said during the hearing.
Growing concern about the use of AI
Altman’s testimony comes amid concern on the part of US authorities due to the possibility that the rapid development of AI technologies will have unexpected effects on society.
Lawmakers mentioned risks such as job loss or the use of content creation tools to generate false information by foreign actors.
To illustrate his concerns, Senator Richard Blumenthal, chairman of the Privacy, Technology and the Law subcommittee and organizer of the hearing, played a recording made with artificial intelligence written by ChatGPT, which mimics the style and -first goal of the congressman’s interest.
“To quote ChatGPT, this is not necessarily the future we want,” joked Blumenthal at the start of the event.
Altman admits that AI will affect the labor market
Altman admits that AI will likely affect the labor marketbut he is optimistic that in the long run, technology will create more new jobs than it will destroy them. “We are very creative,” stated the businessman.
Another guest at the event, IBM’s Director of Privacy and Trust, Christina Montgomery, spoke of her own position as an example of a job that did not exist before the development of AI.
Altman is also open to Blumenthal’s suggestion that the Government create independent laboratories to assess the reliability of artificial intelligence models, and that they give them the same grade as the nutritional rating of foods.
The head of OpenAI acknowledges that its products will still make mistakes, but over time they will become more reliable.
Another of the senators who sponsored the hearing, Republican Josh Hawley, assured that artificial intelligence is “one of the most important changes in history”, but it is not yet clear whether it is more similar to invention of the printing press or the atomic bomb.
Loss Congressmen agreed that although public regulation was indeed necessary, AI companies like OpenAI don’t have to wait for Congress to establish mechanisms to regulate the technology’s development to reduce harm.
At the beginning of the month, the US Government announced that it will invest $140 million to establish seven new artificial intelligence research institutes that will promote responsible innovation and ensure that technological advances serve the common good.
The centers will join 18 AI research institutes already operating in the country. In addition, the White House announced that major AI companies have agreed to undergo a public evaluation of their systems during the DEF CON 31 hacker event, which will be held in Las Vegas in early August.
During the convention, thousands of participants will analyze whether these systems are compatible with the AI ​​Bill of Rights proposed by the US Government, which includes principles such as user data privacy or protection against discriminatory algorithms.
