Political opposites in Washington, including Bernie Sanders and Steve Bannon, are calling for tighter government limits on artificial intelligence. The demands range from construction freezes on data centers to presidential executive orders, while President Trump dismisses concerns as a hoax and threatens operators with penalties.
OpenAI is backing the FRONTIER Act, the first US federal bill that would force major AI developers to undergo safety audits by independent third parties. The bill would create the first federal framework for AI safety and require leading labs to bring in independent verification organizations (IVOs). The requirement applies only to companies above high revenue and compute thresholds.
"We have to be the masters of A.I.," said Salvatore Cordileone, the archbishop of San Francisco, at a Washington conference. The event, hosted by the nonprofit Future of Life Institute, brought together an unusual coalition of Republicans and Democrats, evangelical Christian, Mormon and Catholic leaders, plus artists. Hats handed out to attendees carried the slogan "Keep the future human."
Representative Greg Casar, Democrat of Texas, argued: "We ban A.I. systems that are too powerful for humans to control." Representative Lori Trahan, Democrat of Massachusetts, said: "I can't believe I have to say this. The future we all want is human. It's nonnegotiable."
The White House stands against all of this. President Trump has called fears about the technology a "hoax" and threatened AI chiefs with criminal action for harms caused by their systems. OpenAI did not say how it will handle smaller companies, and the open question remains about the scope of the safety framework.
Source: thedecoder
