Some lawmakers are sounding the alarm about the impact of artificial intelligence on Americans, including children, as the technology becomes increasingly common.
In separate interviews on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Katie Britt (R-Ala.) warned of the dangers AI can have on American democracy and called for technology companies to face accountability for their creations.
“This is the most consequential technology in the history of humanity,” Sanders told host Jake Tapper. “It will transform our country. It will transform the world.”
Sanders indicated he is concerned that those interested in creating or controlling AI — including Elon Musk — are only doing so to become richer.
“Multi-multi-billionaires are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into implementing and developing this technology. What is their motive? Do you think they’re staying up nights worrying about working people and how this technology will impact those people? They are not. They are doing it to get richer and even more powerful,” he said.
Britt is among a group of bipartisan lawmakers working to hold tech companies accountable, though her focus is primarily on preventing minors from accessing certain aspects of AI, such as chatbots.
“We are not doing enough to put up guardrails,” she said. “I think the time to act for Congress is now.”
But Sanders argues that Congress has not taken steps to regulate AI because the wealth of technology companies — some of whom he says have created super PACs — are keeping legislators from doing their jobs.
Musk, along with Bill Gates, has spoken of the future of AI and how it may soon take over jobs. Though Musk has said this would not necessarily be a bad thing, Sanders on Sunday argued that it would leave humans without access to financial stability and healthcare.
“If there are no jobs and humans won’t be needed for most things, how do people get an income to feed their families? To get health care, or to pay the rent?” Sanders said. “There has not been one serious word of discussion in the Congress about that reality.”
Lawmakers like Britt have introduced legislation to counter tech companies’ overreach. She has focused heavily on protecting children from this overreach, but says the challenge is working around Section 230, which protects most online platforms from being held liable for things posted on their sites.
“If you are designing machines or designing platforms or algorithms that are pushing kids into depression or pushing them towards suicide you absolutely should be held liable for that,” she said.
Following a growing number of families have accused tech companies of creating chatbots that, without guardrails, have encouraged or led their children to commit suicide, Britt co-sponsored the bipartisan Guidelines for User Age-verification and Responsible Dialogue Act.
The legislation would ban the use of AI companions by minors, mandate AI chatbots disclose their non-human status, and establish new criminal liability for companies that develop chatbots that engage in sexually explicit conduct with minors.
“If these AI companies can make the most brilliant machines in the world, they could do us all a service by putting up proper guardrails that did not allow for minors to utilize these things,” Britt told Tapper.
