ChatGPT Draws Attention to the US Congress for Its Impact on National Security and Education

Senator Ron Wyden is wary of the presence of ChatGPT. (photo: Twitter @RonWyden)

JAKARTA - ChatGPT, a fast-growing AI program, has been commended for its ability to quickly write answers to a wide variety of types of questions and draw the attention of members of the US Congress with questions about its impact on national security and education.

It is estimated that ChatGPT already reached 100 million monthly active users just two months after launch, making it the fastest-growing consumer app in history and a growing target for regulation.

ChatGPT was created by OpenAI, a private company backed by Microsoft Corp, and made available to the public free of charge. Its ubiquity has raised concerns that generative AI like ChatGPT could be used to spread disinformation, while teachers fear it will be used by students to cheat.

Congressman Ted Lieu, a Democrat on the House of Representatives Science Committee, said in an opinion piece in the New York Times that he is enthusiastic about AI and "the incredible ways it will continue to advance society", but is also "very concerned about AI, particularly uncontrolled and disorganized AI".

Lieu introduced a resolution authored by ChatGPT that said Congress should focus on AI "to ensure that the development and implementation of AI is conducted in a manner that is safe, ethical, and respects the rights and privacy of all Americans, and that the benefits of AI are widely distributed and the risks are minimized".

According to Democratic congressman staff, In January, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman traveled to Capitol Hill, where he met technology-oriented members of Congress such as Senators Mark Warner, Ron Wyden and Richard Blumenthal and Representative Jake Auchincloss,

Wyden's staff said members of Congress questioned Altman about the need to ensure AI does not cover biases that would lead to discrimination in the real world, such as housing or employment.

"While Senator Wyden believes AI has tremendous potential to accelerate innovation and research, she is laser-focused on ensuring automated systems don't automate discrimination in the process," said Keith Chu, a staff at Wyden.

The second congressional aide described the discussion as focused on the speed at which AI is changing and how it can be used.

Driven by concerns about plagiarism, ChatGPT has been banned from schools in New York and Seattle. One congressional staffer said the concerns they were hearing from constituents were mainly coming from educators focused on cheating.

OpenAI said in a statement: "We don't want ChatGPT to be used for misleading purposes in schools or anywhere else, so we've developed mitigations to help anyone identify text generated by that system."

In an interview with Time, Mira Murati, OpenAI's chief technology officer, said the company welcomes input, including from regulators and governments. "It's not too early (for regulators to get involved)," he said.

Andrew Burt, managing partner of BNH.AI, a law firm focused on liability AI, pointed to national security concerns, adding that he has spoken to lawmakers who are studying whether to regulate ChatGPT and similar AI systems like Google Bard, though he said he could not reveal their names.

“The whole value proposition of these types of AI systems is that they can generate content at scale and at speeds that humans cannot,” he said.

"I would expect bad actors, non-state actors, and state actors who have interests conflicting with the United States to use these systems to generate information that could be false or harmful," Burt said.

ChatGPT itself, when asked how it should be regulated, declined and said: "As a neutral AI language model, I have no stance on specific laws that may or may not be enforced to regulate AI systems like mine." But then it goes on to list potential focus areas for regulators, such as data privacy, bias and fairness, and transparency in how answers are written.