Schumer tees up Senate plan for AI regulation

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday outlined his two-pronged approach for crafting artificial intelligence (AI) policy, as Congress and the administration race to regulate the booming industry.

The Democratic leader unveiled his framework for AI regulation and announced a series of expert forums to guide Congress as lawmakers tackle a range of issues posed by the technology, from national security concerns to copyright law.

Schumer said his SAFE Innovation Framework for AI aims to incorporate safeguards raised by stakeholders while still promoting innovation in the industry.

“I call it that because the right framework must prioritize innovation. It’s essential to our country,” he said during a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The U.S. has always been a leader in innovating on the greatest technologies that shape the modern world.”

The Senate majority leader unveiled more details of the framework, which was first announced in April, one day after President Biden met with tech leaders to discuss AI and a day after a bipartisan House bill on the technology was introduced.

Schumer’s framework has five key pillars: security, accountability, protecting foundations, explainability and innovation.

In his speech Wednesday, the senator said innovation must be “our North Star” in crafting regulation and stressed the need for bipartisanship in setting the ground rules for AI.

To help in “laying down a new foundation for AI policy,” Schumer said Congress should hear from top minds in AI through a series of forums later this year.

“If we take the typical path — holding congressional hearings with opening statements and each member asking questions five minutes at a time, often on different issues — we simply won’t be able to come up with the right policies,” he said. 

“By the time we act, AI will have evolved into something new.”

Schumer said the forums “can’t and won’t” replace efforts already underway in Congress.

Members of both parties have zoomed in on issues posed by AI.

In the House, a bipartisan bill was introduced Tuesday that would create a commission to review, recommend and establish regulations for AI.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, among others, has held a series of hearings on AI risks and opportunities — including a high-profile hearing in May featuring Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAi, the company behind the popular ChatGPT tool. 

ChatGPT burst onto the scene in November and has skyrocketed in popularity since. The tool — along with the launch of rival AI chatbots such as Google’s Bard and other generative AI video and image tools — has left U.S. lawmakers and global leaders mulling AI regulation. 

Schumer stressed the urgency of congressional action to set guardrails for the technology that “align with democratic norms.”

If not, he said, there’s a risk others — namely the Chinese Communist Party — could set standards, and “democracy could enter an era of steep decline.” 

Schumer has established a bipartisan group of senators to lead on the issue alongside himself: Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.).

The framework is just one piece of the federal government’s sweeping attempt to rein in the booming AI industry. 

On Tuesday, Biden met with tech leaders in San Francisco to discuss AI. 

Biden said he expects to see “more change in the next 10 years than we’ve seen in the last 50 years, and maybe beyond that,” adding that AI is driving that change.

“We need to manage the risks to our society, to our economy, and our national security,” he said. “I have a lot to learn, and we also have a lot to discuss.”

The White House has said that AI is a top priority for the president, and chief of staff Jeff Zients “is overseeing a process to rapidly develop decisive actions” on AI to take over the coming weeks, a White House official told The Hill on Tuesday.

The meeting in California followed previous meetings Biden and Vice President Harris had with executives of companies leading the way on AI, including Google and Microsoft, at the White House in May.