2 new bipartisan bills have recently been introduced by legislators in the United States (US), focusing on transparency and innovation related to Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The first bill
On June 8, Democratic Senator Gary Peters and Republican Senators Mike Braun and James Lankford introduced the first bill requiring the government to be transparent about AI use.
This bill would require US government agencies to notify the public when they use AI to communicate with them. In addition, a system would be set up where citizens can object to decisions made by AI. Braun stated the following:
The federal government must be proactive and transparent with the use of AI and ensure that no decisions are made without human beings in the driver’s seat.
The second bill
The second bill was jointly introduced by Democratic Senators Michael Bennet and Mark Warner, along with Republican Senator Todd Young, with the goal of creating an official Office of Global Competition Analysis.
The creation of this new division aims to support the United States in keeping up with developments in the field of AI. Senator Bennet noted the following:
We cannot afford to lose our competitive advantage in strategic technologies such as semiconductors, quantum computing and artificial intelligence to competitors like China.
Educate lawmakers about technology
The introduction of these bills comes on the heels of an announcement from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer calling for three upcoming AI briefings to educate lawmakers about the technology.
Around the world, regulations related to AI are emerging in the discussions among legislators.
Earlier this week, officials in the United Kingdom stressed that AI models need regulation similar to that for drugs and nuclear energy. On the same day, another British official warned that if these models are not controlled within the next two years, they could pose a threat to humanity.
Meanwhile, lawmakers in Europe are finalizing their EU AI law, a comprehensive set of regulations for the development and deployment of generative AI.
European regulators have taken a similarly urgent approach to AI regulation and recently indicated they are considering classifying all AI-generated content as such.