US House Leader Forms Bipartisan Task Force To Overcome Anxiety About Artificial Intelligence

US House Leader Forms Bipartisan Task Force To Overcome Anxiety About Artificial Intelligence

JAKARTA - The leader of the US House of Representatives announced on Tuesday 20 February that it is forming a bipartisan task force to explore potential legislation that will address concerns about artificial intelligence.

Efforts at Congress to pass legislation over AI have stalled despite many high-level forums and legislative proposals over the past year.

The chairman of the US House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, a Republican, and Democratic Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, said the team would be tasked with producing comprehensive reports and considering "guardrails that may be appropriate to protect the country from current and emerging threats."

AI is generative - which can make text, photos, and videos in response to open demand - has sparked enthusiasm and fear that this technology could make some jobs obsolete, disrupt general elections, and potentially defeat humans and have catastrophic effects.

This issue received renewed attention after a false call in January imitating US President Joe Biden, seeking to persuade people in the US not to vote for him in the Democratic primary election in New Hampshire. The Federal Communications Commission stated this month that the calls made with votes generated by illegal AIs.

The team's report will cover "leading principles, future recommendations, and bipartisan policy proposals developed by consulting with committees" at Congress.

Jeffries said "the emergence of artificial intelligence also presents a series of unique challenges and certain guardrails must be placed to protect the American people."

In October, Biden signed an executive order aimed at reducing AI risk. In January, the Commerce Department said it proposed demanding US cloud companies determine whether foreign entities access US data centers to train AI models.

Jay Zipnolte, head of the Republic of the task force consisting of 24 members, said the report would detail "standard regulations and Congressional actions needed to protect consumers and encourage investment and sustainable innovation in AI."

Democratic co-chairman Ted Lieu said "The question is how to ensure AI is beneficial to society rather than harm us."

Earlier this month, Commerce Minister Gina Raimondo said leading AI companies were among the more than 200 entities joining a new US consortium to support safe AI implementations, including OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Apple, Amazon.com, and Nvidia.