A bipartisan group of four U.S. senators joined together last Wednesday to express the need to invest more money in artificial intelligence research. The claim is that the U.S. will quickly be left behind if the government does not act quickly.
Fox News Digital reported that the bipartisan group is led by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. He is joined by Republican Senators Mike Rounds (S.D.) and Todd Young (Ind.).
While the group admitted that they did not always see eye to eye on the best paths forward, they agree that the U.S. needs to respond to China’s massive investment in AI technologies. The four senators completed a 31-page report that includes broad policy recommendations.
‘We’re not going to wait on legislation that addresses every aspect of AI in society.’
Rounds said that “this is a time in which the dollars related to this particular investment will pay dividends to the taxpayers of this country long term.”
“China now spends probably about 10 times more than we do on AI development. They are in a hurry,” he added.
The group’s blueprint specifically centers around generative AI, which has the ability to create photos, text, and videos in response to human-generated prompts. While the technology is exciting and innovative, some people are also worried about the future of some jobs that could be made obsolete by the technology.
The Associated Press reported that Young said the development of ChatGPT and similar models made him realize “we’re going to have to figure out collectively as an institution” how to tackle this technology.
“In the same breath that people marveled at the possibilities of just that one generative AI platform, they began to hypothesize about future risks that might be associated with future developments of artificial intelligence,” Young added.
As a result, the group is requesting that the U.S. government invest $32 billion in non-defense-related AI research every year. Schumer insisted that the U.S. needs to maintain the upper hand against China.
Schumer also noted that it was not necessary to wait for legislation that addressed every element of AI before acting.
“We’re not going to wait on legislation that addresses every aspect of AI in society,” he said.
On Wednesday, the Senate Rules Committee held a debate on how AI could impact or even threaten the election system throughout the country.
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