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US Senate AI ‘Insight Forum’ Tracker [1]
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Date: 2023-10-25 14:02:00+00:00
US Senate AI ‘Insight Forum’ Tracker
Gabby Miller is Staff Writer at Tech Policy Press.
Senate “AI Insight Forum,” September 13, 2023. Source
The tracker was first published on September 21, 2023. Last updated October 25, 2023.
In June, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced his SAFE Innovation Framework, policy objectives for what he calls an “all-hands-on-deck effort” to contend with artificial intelligence (AI). He called this a “moment of revolution” that will lead to “profound, and dramatic change,” and invoked experts who “predict that in just a few years the world could be wholly unrecognizable from the one we live in today.”
Asserting that the “traditional approach of committee hearings” is not sufficient to meet the moment, Sen. Schumer promised a series of AI “Insight Forums” on topics to include:
“Asking the right questions”
“AI innovation”
“Copyright and IP”
“Use cases and risk management”
“Workforce”
“National security”
“Guarding against doomsday scenarios
“AI’s role in our social world
“Transparency, explainability, and alignment”
“Privacy and liability”
Tech Policy Press is rounding up what we do (and don’t) know about the forums and will continue to catalog what information comes out of future meetings. Our goal is to create a central resource to track attendees, key issues discussed, and major takeaways from each event, in order to understand what ideas, individuals, and organizations are influencing lawmakers. This piece will be updated as new details become available on each of the planned forums.
(If you participated in one of the forums and have materials or other details to share with Tech Policy Press, get in touch.)
Forum #2: October 24, 2023
Focus: Innovation
The US Senate’s second-ever AI ‘Insight Forum’ brought together some of the nation’s leading voices in labor, academia, tech, and civil rights to discuss the theme of ‘innovation’ on October 24, 2023. Source.
On Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) hosted the second installment of his bipartisan ‘AI Insight Forum’ in the Russell Senate Office Building. The innovation-themed session included prominent venture capitalists from Andreeessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins, as well as leaders from artificial intelligence companies such as SeedAI and Cohere, as first reported by Axios. Academics, labor leaders, and representatives from civil society groups including the NAACP and the Center for Democracy and Technology were also in attendance.
The second forum lasted just three hours, half the time allotted for the first. And it was less star-studded than its predecessor, which included the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk. However, many prominent voices advancing ideas around AI governance, industry standards, and more were invited to Tuesday’s forum, including Max Tegmark, the MIT professor and Future of Life Institute president who helped author the ‘pause AI’ letter earlier this year; Alondra Nelson, a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study as well as a former deputy assistant to President Joe Biden and acting director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), who led the creation of the White House’s “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights”; and Suresh Venkatasubramanian, a Brown University professor who also helped develop the Blueprint while serving as a White House advisor, among others.
On social media, observers raised concerns about perspectives excluded from the forum. Justine Bateman, a writer, director, producer, and member of the Directors Guild of America (DGA), the WGA, and SAG-AFTRA, pointed out in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that only one of the 43 total witnesses – Writers Guild of America president Meredith Stiehm – called to Congress so far has been an artist, despite the existential threats currently facing Hollywood, writers, and the visual arts with regards to AI.
While more than two-thirds of the Senate attended last month’s closed-door hearing, which was criticized for prohibiting the press and “muzzling” senators, the second forum was met with much less fanfare. Some senators seen shuffling into the hearing, according to a Nexstar reporter present on the Hill, included Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), J.D. Vance (R-OH), and John Hickenlooper (D-CO).
The second forum’s announcement coincided with the introduction of a new bill, called the Artificial Intelligence Advancement Act of 2023 (S. 3050). The proposed legislation is sponsored by the AI Forums’ “Gang of Four” – Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), and Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) – and will establish a bug bounty program as well as require reports and analyses on data sharing and coordination, artificial intelligence regulation in the financial sector, and AI-enabled military applications.
On the same day as the hearing, Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI) and John Kennedy (R-LA) introduced what they’re calling the “Schatz-Kennedy AI Labeling Act” (S. 2691), which would provide more transparency for users around AI-generated content. “[This Act] puts the onus where it belongs – on companies, not consumers. Because people shouldn’t have to double and triple check, or parse through thick lines of code, to find out whether something was made by AI,” Sen. Schatz said in a press release, “It should be right there, in the open, clearly marked with a label.”
Forum #2 Attendees:
Marc Andreessen – Andreessen Horowitz, Co-founder & General Partner
– Andreessen Horowitz, Co-founder & General Partner Ylli Bajraktari – SCSP, President & CEO
– SCSP, President & CEO Amanda Ballantyne – AFL-CIO Technology Institute, Director
– AFL-CIO Technology Institute, Director Manish Bhatia – Micron, Executive Vice President
– Micron, Executive Vice President Stella Biderman – EleutherAI, Executive Director
– EleutherAI, Executive Director Austin Carson – SeedAI, Founder & President
– SeedAI, Founder & President Steve Case – Revolution, Chairman & CEO
– Revolution, Chairman & CEO Patrick Collison – Stripe, Co-founder & CEO
– Stripe, Co-founder & CEO Tyler Cowen – George Mason University, Professor
– George Mason University, Professor John Doerr – Kleiner Perkins, Chairman
– Kleiner Perkins, Chairman Jodi Forlizzi – Carnegie Mellon University, Professor
– Carnegie Mellon University, Professor Aidan Gomez – Cohere, Co-founder & CEO
– Cohere, Co-founder & CEO Derrick Johnson – NAACP, President & CEO
– NAACP, President & CEO Sean McClain – AbSci, Founder & CEO
– AbSci, Founder & CEO Alondra Nelson – Institute for Advanced Study, Professor
– Institute for Advanced Study, Professor Kofi Nyarko – Morgan State University, Professor
– Morgan State University, Professor Alexandra Reeve Givens – Center for Democracy and Technology , President & CEO
– Center for Democracy and Technology , President & CEO Rafael Reif – MIT, Former President
– MIT, Former President Evan Smith – Altana Technologies, Co-founder & CEO
– Altana Technologies, Co-founder & CEO Max Tegmark – Future of Life Institute, President
– Future of Life Institute, President Suresh Venkatasubramanian – Brown University, Professor
The topics discussed:
‘Transformational’ innovation that pushes the boundaries of medicine, energy, and science
‘Sustainable’ innovation that drives advancements in security, accountability, and transparency in AI
Government research and development funding (R&D) that incentivizes equitable and responsible AI innovation
Open source AI models: Balancing national security concerns while recognizing this existing market could be an opportunity for American innovation
Making government datasets available to researchers
Minimizing harms, such as job loss, racial and gender biases, and economic displacement
‘Encouraging,’ ‘thoughtful,’ ‘civil,’ and ‘optimistic’ were words used to describe the tone of the second AI ‘insight forum,’ according to attendees Tech Policy Press spoke with shortly after the hearing.
Sen. Schumer set the stage early on Tuesday by reminding attendees that during the first forum, every single person raised their hand when asked, “Does the government need to play a role in regulating AI? This, Brown University Professor Suresh Venkatasubramanian said, established a baseline so that the regulatory question really became ‘what’ and ‘how.’ “Many, even from the business side of the group, talked about ‘rules of the road’ that we need so that we can all be comfortable and innovate without fear of harms. I think that makes sense,” said Venkatasubramanian. “And then the rest of it is a question of degree.”
Sen. Schumer also framed the innovation-themed forum as striking a careful balance between ‘transformational’ and ‘sustainable’ innovation. However, attendee Alondra Nelson told Tech Policy Press that she’s not entirely convinced by this sort of division. “We need all the innovation to be transformational,” Nelson argued, because “the status quo is not sustainable.” “What are the kinds of creative levers that we can use and think about now in government? What are the types of transformational innovation in the space of business that the government can help foster or catalyze? How do we use innovation? And how can government help drive investments and incentive structures for responsible, equitable AI that really drives public goods that helps us to address climate change, that helps us to address healthcare inequality?” Nelson asked. “I think there’s a lot more granularity that we probably are going to need to add around what we mean by transformational innovation.”
The greatest point of tension seemed to be around the level of AI regulation different stakeholders see as reasonable. This comes as little surprise, given that billionaire attendee Marc Andreessen published a “techno-optimist manifesto” the week prior that appeared to equate AI regulation with murder. And although tension around the right path forward on regulation was “very visible in the room,” as Center for Democracy and Technology President Alexandra Reeve Givens observed, it wasn’t “in a manner that felt completely insurmountable.”
For industry representatives, much of the focus was on research and development funding as the US government looks for ways to incentivize AI innovation. This, Reeve Givens said, seemed to resonate with Schumer as he thinks about this series of forums as AI’s version of the CHIPS and Science Act. “It’s clear [Congress] is really paying attention,” Reeve Givens said, “I think this is an important exercise for Congress to do. But the important part will come when they start putting pen to paper, right?”
Sen. Schumer indicated during the hearing that future forums will be focused on AI harms and solutions, although no timeline has been publicly announced.
Press Coverage:
Other Relevant materials:
Forum #1: September 13, 2023
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD), Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY), and Sen. Todd Young (R-IN), also known as the “Gang of Four,” hosted the first AI Insight Forum on September 13, 2023. Source
On September 13, 2023, US Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) brought together 22 of tech’s most influential billionaires, civil society group leaders, and experts for the first of nine promised “AI Insight Forums” he plans to host on Capitol Hill. More than sixty-five senators, or around two-thirds of the Senate, joined the closed-door meeting – although no questions were allowed – in what Sen. Schumer has described as an effort to “supercharge” the Committee process and build consensus on artificial intelligence legislation.
High-profile tech industry leaders in attendance included Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, and X/Tesla’s Elon Musk, among others, who left the Senate’s Kennedy Caucus Room reportedly feeling generally positive about the meeting but skeptical as to how ready Congress is to actually regulate AI.
The private format, however, was widely criticized, and not just by civil society groups concerned about corporate influence. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who was present at the Forum, said that “closed-door [sessions] for tech giants” is a “terrible precedent” for developing legislation and further questioned why even the press was shut out of the meeting. Some members of the press wondered how accountability can be assured by meetings held behind closed doors, while others characterized the forum as “scripted political theater” that runs the risk of exacerbating mistrust in the American political system and its historical inability to rein in Silicon Valley.
The first AI Insight Forum came amid a busy week for the Senate in regards to governing artificial intelligence. Just the day prior, on Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, led by Chairman Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Ranking Member Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), met with industry and experts for crafting legislation that balances basic safeguards with maximum benefits. (A full transcript of the hearing can be found on Tech Policy Press.)
That same day, the Biden-Harris administration announced it secured additional voluntary commitments from eight leading artificial intelligence companies to “help drive safe, secure, and trustworthy development of AI technology,” joining the seven other companies who signed on in July. These non-binding measures range from notifying users when content is generated by AI to thoroughly testing AI systems before their release. Three of the newest signatories – IBM, NVIDIA, and Palantir – were represented at Schumer’s round-table.
Other Senate hearings last week were hosted by the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee as well as the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee to discuss transparency in artificial intelligence and AI governance regarding acquisition and procurement, respectively.
Little is publicly known about the first-of-its-kind AI Insight Forum, other than from official statements, attendees’ quips to the press, and leaks from those present in the room. A handful of attendees publicly reflected on the meeting – like Maya Wiley, CEO and President of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, on CNN This Morning as well as the Center for Humane Technology’s Tristan Harris and Aza Raskin on the Politico Tech podcast – but many questions remain beyond the panelists’ own interpretation of events.
The Hosts:
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer ( Opening statement )
Senator Mike Rounds (R-SD) (Opening statement)
Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) (Opening statement)
Senator Todd Young (R-IN) (Post-forum statement)
The Attendees:
What Senators were saying:
The topics discussed:
Elections and the use of deepfakes
High-risk applications
Impact of AI on the workforce
National security
Privacy, such as AI-driven geolocation tracking and facial recognition concerns
Press reaction:
What to take away from Forum #1:
There was reportedly broad agreement in the room for both the unprecedented societal risks posed by AI and the need to take urgent action to mitigate it. (Sen. Schumer noted after the forum that every single attendees’ hand went up when asked if the government should regulate AI.) How to achieve this, on the other hand, was the biggest point of tension. There were calls for Congress to create a new AI agency, while others want to leverage existing authorities, like the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), to regulate the emerging technology.
Repeated emphasis was placed on the need to balance regulation and building “safeguards” with innovation that can help advance the American economy and its geopolitical standing.
No voluntary commitments for AI tech companies were proposed or promised. The meeting was characterized more as a “framing” conversation regarding AI problems to inform future policy proposals. It seems widely agreed upon that Congress is not yet ready to draft detailed legislation.
Several senators expressed concern that the forum will lead nowhere. Others, like Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), said the crash course was more informative than they had expected it to be. “I kind of expected it to be a nothingburger and I learned a lot. I thought it was extremely helpful, so I’m really glad I went,” Sen. Lummis told the press after the forum.
Other relevant materials:
A transcript of Sen. Schumer’s June 21, 2023 speech announcing the forums at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC.
A transcript of Sen. Schumer’s June 22, 2023 floor remarks on launching the SAFE Innovation Framework and AI Insight Forums.
The document describing Sen. Schumer’s “SAFE Innovation Framework.”
Gabby Miller is a staff writer at Tech Policy Press. She was previously a reporting fellow at the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, where she used investigative techniques to uncover the ways Big Tech companies invested in the news industry to advance their own policy interests. She’s an alumna of Vassar College, where she studied feminist and queer theory, as well as Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
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