Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, believes there’s a clear consensus when it comes to regulating artificial intelligence (AI).
This consensus emerged after a gathering of tech leaders in Washington, D.C., where they discussed AI.
The meeting included influential figures like Mark Zuckerberg from Meta, Sundar Pichai from Google, Bill Gates, former CEO of Microsoft, and Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s current CEO.
This discussion took place privately on a Wednesday.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer organized the meeting, inviting both tech leaders and civil rights advocates to participate.
AI’s potential, for both good and bad, has been a matter of great interest to politicians worldwide.
In May, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT), testified before a US Senate committee, highlighting the potential challenges of this new technology.
ChatGPT and similar programs can generate highly human-like responses but can also make significant mistakes.
“I think if this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong…we want to be vocal about that,” Mr Altman said. “We want to work with the government to prevent that from happening,” he said.
There are concerns that AI could lead to widespread job losses, increase fraud, and make false information more believable.
Additionally, AI companies have faced criticism for using internet data without permission or compensation to creators.
Back in April, Elon Musk told the BBC that he believed there should be a regulatory body overseeing AI to ensure it doesn’t pose a threat to the public.
During the recent meeting, he advocated for an AI “referee” to oversee the industry.
“I think there should be a regulatory body established for overseeing AI to make sure that it does not present a danger to the public.,” Musk commented after the meeting.
“I think we’ll probably see something happen. I don’t know on what timeframe or exactly how it will manifest itself,” he told reporters after.
Mark Zuckerberg suggested that Congress should actively engage with AI to foster innovation while implementing safeguards.
Mr. Zuckerberg said that Congress “should engage with AI to support innovation and safeguards”.
He added it was “better that the standard is set by American companies that can work with our government to shape these models on important issues”.
He stressed the importance of American companies working alongside the government to shape AI models on crucial matters.
Republican Senator Mike Rounds cautioned that it would take time for Congress to take action, stating, “Are we ready to go out and write legislation? Absolutely not,”
“We’re not there.”
Democrat Senator Cory Booker confirmed that all participants agreed on the government having a role in regulation.
However, crafting the necessary legislation would be a complex challenge.
