As AI grows, U.S. senators seek tech titans’ advice over how to regulate

Some Republicans have been wary of following the path of the European Union, which signed off in June on the world's first set of comprehensive rules for artificial intelligence.

Senators heard from prominent technology executives and others in private Wednesday on how to accomplish the potentially impossible task of passing bipartisan legislation within the next year that encourages the rapid development of artificial intelligence and mitigates its biggest risks.

The closed-door forum on Capitol Hill convened by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer included almost two dozen tech executives, tech advocates, civil rights groups and labor leaders. The guest list featured some of the industry’s biggest names: Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and X and Tesla’s Elon Musk as well as former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. All 100 senators were invited; the public was not.

Schumer, D-N.Y., said more than 60 senators attended and that there was some broad consensus in building a foundation for bipartisan AI policy. When he asked everyone in the room if government should have a role in regulating AI, “every single person raised their hands, even though they had diverse views,” he said.

Schumer, who was leading the forum with Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., will not necessarily take the tech executives’ advice as he works with colleagues to try and ensure some oversight of the burgeoning sector. But he is hoping they will give senators some realistic direction for meaningful regulation of the tech industry.

Tech leaders outlined their views, with each participant getting three minutes to speak on a topic of their choosing.

Musk and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt raised existential risks posed by AI, Zuckerberg brought up the question of closed vs. “open source” AI models and IBM CEO Arvind Krishna expressed opposition to the licensing approach favored by other companies, according to a person in attendance who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the rules of the closed-door forum.

Schumer said one of the issues discussed was whether there should be a new agency to regulate AI.

“It was a very civilized discussion among some of the smartest people in the world,” Musk told reporters after leaving the meeting. He said there is clearly some strong consensus.