The Senate leader has argued that a new legislative process is needed to address the risks and benefits of AI, given the technology’s swift development. He has proposed gathering many experts with differing perspectives in the technology in a single room, to solicit input on how Congress should craft AI legislation.
Axios first reported the guest list for the September forum.
In a June speech on the Senate floor, Schumer teased these gatherings as “first of their kind” events. He said they offer an opportunity for lawmakers to listen to experts and then “translate these ideas into legislative action.”
“They have to be the first of their kind,” he said, “because AI moves so quickly, will change our world so decisively, is so much deeper in its complexity than almost anything else we have dealt with, and lacks the legislative history in Congress that other issues, like the military or education or health care, have.”
The forum is scheduled amid a flurry of activity in Washington to regulate AI, a technology that has drawn greater scrutiny from lawmakers since last year’s launch of ChatGPT.
Lawmakers have been attending private meetings, dinners and briefings with AI experts — including chief executives of the companies they’re trying to regulate. Some consumer advocates have warned that the flurry of efforts to educate policymakers on AI has pushed members of Congress uncomfortably close to Silicon Valley companies that are trying to influence legislation to favor their business practices.
