This article will break down what precisely these boards are and aren’t, and what would possibly come out of them. The boards might be closed to the general public and press, so I chatted with individuals at one firm—Hugging Face—that did get the invite about what they’re anticipating and what their priorities are heading into the discussions.
What are the boards?
Schumer first introduced the boards on the finish of June as a part of his AI laws initiative, referred to as SAFE Innovation. In flooring remarks on Tuesday, Schumer mentioned he’s planning for “an open dialogue about how Congress can act on AI: the place to begin, what inquiries to ask, and construct a basis for SAFE AI innovation.”
The SAFE framework, as a reminder, isn’t a legislative proposal however relatively a set of priorities that Schumer laid out in terms of AI regulation. These priorities embody selling innovation, supporting the American tech trade, understanding the labor ramifications of AI, and mitigating safety dangers. Wednesday’s assembly is the primary of 9 deliberate periods. Subsequent conferences will cowl matters equivalent to “IP points, workforce points, privateness, safety, alignment, and lots of extra,” Schumer mentioned in his remarks.
Who’s, and isn’t, invited?
The invite listing for the primary discussion board made a splash when it was made public two weeks in the past. The listing, first reported by Axios, numbers 22 individuals and consists of a number of tech firm executives who do plan on attending, equivalent to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, former Microsoft CEO Invoice Gates, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Palantir CEO Alex Karp, X CEO Elon Musk, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Whereas a few civil society and AI ethics researchers have been included—specifically, AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler and AI accountability researcher Deb Raji—observers and distinguished tech coverage voices have been fast to criticize the listing, partially for its tilt towards executives poised to revenue from AI.
The inclusion of so many tech leaders may very well be a political sign to reassure the trade. Tech corporations, for the second, are positioned to have a variety of energy and affect over AI coverage.
What can we count on out of them?
We don’t actually know what the outcomes of those boards might be, and contemplating that they’re closed door, we’d by no means actually have full perception into the specifics of the conversations or their implications for Congress. They’re anticipated to be listening periods, the place AI leaders will assist to coach legislators on AI and questions on its regulation. In Schumer’s remarks from Tuesday, he mentioned that “after all, the actual legislative work will are available in committees, however the AI boards will give us the nutrient agar, the information and the challenges that we have to perceive in an effort to attain this aim.”
The boards are thought of categorised, but when we do get some details about what was mentioned, I’ll be listening for some potential themes for US AI regulation that I highlighted again in July: fostering the American tech trade, aligning AI with “democratic values,” and coping with (or ignoring) current questions on Part 230 and on-line speech.