OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will make his public debut in Congress at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing about oversight of AI, as lawmakers seek to better understand the range of risks posed by generative AI and possible ways to mitigate them.
“AI is one of the most important issues of our times, with enormous potential both positive and negative, and it is crucial that we get it right,” Gary Marcus, professor emeritus at New York University, said in an email.
Marcus will testify on the panel with Altman and Christina Montgomery, vice president and chief privacy and trust officer at IBM.
Marcus said he will discuss the urgency of the situation and “the tremendous need for having independent scientists at the table” in order to “distinguish between hype and reality and to identify and mitigate a broad arrays of newly-developing risks.”
Tuesday will mark Altman’s first public appearance in Congress, but the CEO has had private meetings with key lawmakers in the months since ChatGPT’s November launch and skyrocketing popularity.
Altman is also scheduled to attend a dinner with House Democrats and Republicans cohosted by Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and GOP Conference Vice Chairman Mike Johnson (R-La.), NBC News reported, following his testimony.
Read more about the hearing in a full report at TheHill.com, and stay tuned for coverage of Tuesday’s hearing.
