AI is a 'moment of revolution,' top Democrat says in urging swift action on regulations

tech.hindustantimes.com:

Calling the rapid growth of artificial intelligence tools a “moment of revolution,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that the government must act quickly to regulate companies that are developing it.

The New York Democrat said he is working on what he calls “exceedingly ambitious” bipartisan legislation to maximize the technology's benefits and mitigate significant risks.

While Schumer did not lay out details of such legislation, he offered some key goals: protect U.S. elections from AI-generated misinformation or interference, shield U.S. workers and intellectual property, prevent exploitation by AI algorithms and create new guardrails to ward off bad actors.

AI legislation also should promote American innovation, Schumer said in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

“If applied correctly, AI promises to transform life on Earth for the better,” Schumer said. “It will reshape how we fight disease, tackle hunger, manage our lives, enrich our minds and ensure peace. But there are real dangers that present themselves as well: job displacement, misinformation, a new age of weaponry and the risk of being unable to manage this new technology altogether.”

Schumer's declaration of urgency comes weeks after scientists and tech industry leaders, including high-level executives at Microsoft and Google, issued a warning about the perils that artificial intelligence could pose to humankind.

“Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” their statement said.

Worries about artificial intelligence systems outsmarting humans and running wild have intensified in recent months