Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va.
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WASHINGTON — Don Beyer is not the common scholar at George Mason College. He is 73 years outdated. He prefers a pocket book and pen to a laptop computer for note-taking. And he is a prime lawmaker on AI coverage in Congress.
The Virginia Democrat discovered AI fascinating, however the breakthrough got here when he realized he might enroll in pc science courses at George Mason College. So he enrolled, beginning with the prerequisite courses that can in the end lead him to a grasp’s diploma in machine studying.
Beyer can solely take about one class a semester, as he balances voting on the ground, engaged on laws and fundraising with getting his coding homework performed. However the courses are already offering advantages.
“With every additional course I take, I think I have a better understanding of how the actual coding works,” he not too long ago informed CNBC. “What it means to have big datasets, what it means to look for these linkages and also, perhaps, what it means to have unintended consequences.”
Beyer is a part of nearly each group of Home lawmakers engaged on AI. He is vice chair for each the bipartisan Congressional Synthetic Intelligence Caucus and a more recent AI working group began by The New Democrat Coalition, the most important teams of centrist Democrats within the Home.
He was additionally a member of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s working group on AI, which could possibly be resurrected below Speaker Mike Johnson. On the legislative facet, he is a frontrunner on a invoice to expand access to high-powered computational tools needed to develop AI.
Crash course
As members of Congress raced to get themselves in control on AI this fall with hearings, boards and a dinner with Open AI CEO Sam Altman, Beyer stated his classroom time has given him a perspective on what goes on below the hood.
He is additionally studying how straightforward it may be for a small mistake to have a serious impression on code. Beyer stated one in every of his daughters, who can be a coder, despatched him a giant e-book about debugging applications that was “very, very long.”
“You make big mistakes, then you make stupid little mistakes that take you hours to find. And you realize how imperfect any technology is,” he stated. “That’s going to drive a lot of trying to defend against the downside risks of AI.”
Congress is grappling with how one can transfer ahead on AI.
Within the Home, Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., who served on McCarthy’s AI working group with Beyer, informed CNBC he is spoken briefly with Johnson, R-La, and the speaker is focused on getting the AI group began once more quickly, after extra urgent battles akin to authorities funding are over.
Obernolte stated there have been just a few completely different instructions the Home might head in on AI, together with enacting digital privateness protections for customers or deciding whether or not a brand new federal company ought to oversee AI, or whether or not every foreign money company ought to deal with the problem.
Obernolte, who has a masters diploma in synthetic intelligence, stated there isn’t any scarcity of sensible lawmakers on AI, together with Beyer.
“Don is wonderful, very knowledgeable, you know, really has a passion for this particular issue,” he stated.
‘Time is of the essence’
One other subject Congress has its eye on is the convenience of spreading movies and pictures that look actual however are generated by AI — notably ones exhibiting occasions that by no means occurred, or actual folks saying issues they by no means really stated, which might in the end impression elections.
Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash., who chairs the New Democrats’ AI working group, stated the 2024 election lends contemporary urgency to determining how one can reduce the impression of deceptive or false media.
“The implications for the spread of misinformation for the integrity of our public discourse or democracy is significant,” Kilmer informed CNBC. “And that is driving this push.”
Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., not too long ago stated “time is of the essence” in relation to coping with AI-generated movies and pictures. “It may be the thing we have to do first, when it comes to legislation and creating guardrails in AI.”
Nonetheless, Beyer is anxious Congress will not transfer shortly sufficient to maintain up with the speedy tempo of latest AI fashions.
“What we’re trying to do is not replicate our failures on social media, where for 20-plus years we’ve not regulated at all,” stated Beyer. “Social media has had wonderful positive effects, but also some pretty scary downsides to misinformation, disinformation.”
Beyer acknowledged that as a result of fights over spending and the Home speaker’s gavel, it wasn’t probably Congress would be capable to cross AI laws this yr. However he is hopeful one thing can transfer subsequent yr, forward of the 2024 election.
