Senator to Tech CEOs: Get Ready, We're Probably Going to Regulate AI

pcmag.com:

A Virginia senator this week warned top tech CEOs of the "urgent need" to prioritize security when developing AI technologies.

"With the increasing use of AI across large swaths of our economy, and the possibility for large language models to be steadily integrated into a range of existing systems, from healthcare to finance sectors, I see an urgent need to underscore the importance of putting security at the forefront of your work," Sen. Mark Warner wrote(Opens in a new window) to the CEOs of 10 companies.

Industry committments may not be enough, however, as Warner—chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence—said it's "clear that some level of regulation is necessary in this field."

Warner sent the letter to the CEOs of OpenAI, Scale AI, Meta, Google, Apple, Stability AI, Midjourney, Anthropic, Percipient.ai, and Microsoft.

He urged them to "prioritize security, combat bias, and responsibly roll out new technologies." He pointed to researchers who have "repeatedly demonstrated a number of concerning, exploitable weaknesses in the prominent products, including abilities to generate credible-seeming misinformation, develop malware, and craft sophisticated phishing techniques."

Warner requested details about the companies' security strategies, limits on third-party access, and steps taken to ensure "secure and accurate" data input and output.

In emails to PCMag, Scale AI and Anthropic confirmed receipt of the letter but declined further comment. We reached out to the other eight companies and will update this story if we hear back.

Editors' Note: This article was updated with response from Scale AI and Anthropic.

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