Bernie Sanders introduces bill to ban superintelligent AI, create federal AI agency
Trump at the UN General Assembly announced to rename AI as 'superintelligence'
Two leading progressive lawmakers in the United States are putting efforts to rein in rapid development of artificial intelligence at a breakneck pace.
Senator Bernie Sanders and Republican Greg Casar are set to unveil a bill on Wednesday aimed at banning artificial superintelligence and creating a federal AI agency to supervise advanced AI. The legislation comes as the industry top executive called for slowing down AI development while urging Congress to set up guardrails on advanced technology.
According to The Associated Press, besides banning superintelligence, the bill would halt AI development until federal safety rules and a new Department of Artificial Intelligence are established. The bill is drawing massive support from leading tech companies employees.
The legislation also requires federal approval before deploying advanced AI systems and includes severe penalties for violations including 20 years in prison in certain cases.
The legislation has drawn support from various tech insiders and researchers, including employees from OpenAI and Google DeepMind, who warned of potential existential risks, as per AP.
Swante Scholz, a software engineer at Google DeepMind said in a statement, “A ban on superintelligence development would be a positive change for the foreseeable future.”
However political obstacles abound. For instance, this bill could face opposition in a Republican-dominated Congress as a rift prevailed between Republicans and progressive Democrats pushing for aggressive regulation of AI ahead of November midterm elections.
When it comes to growing existential risks of AI to humanity, President Trump called them a hoax while opposing federal oversight for AI. He also showed skepticism towards slowing down AI development and preferred competition against China.
On Tuesday, Trump told the United Nations General Assembly that artificial intelligence will be renamed “super intelligence.”
On Thursday, Trump and Xi Jinping will hold a summit and it is expected that during talks AI safety will be in the focus.
