Sen. Chuck Schumer says that big AI legislation is still’months’ away.
Senators left a secret meeting on artificial intelligence on Tuesday with a better idea of how AI is already being used to improve U.S. national security and how China’s use of its own AI powers could pose a threat in the near future.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., told Fox News Digital after the closed-door meeting, “I think it’s very important from a military point of view because China is playing for keeps.” “There is a lot of progress going on in the business world. So, things are going fast, but I think the best thing we can do right now is get a clear picture.”
Tuesday afternoon’s briefing was the first time that senators and key Pentagon leaders met in a secret setting to talk about AI. We talked about how the U.S. uses AI to keep its edge in national security and how other countries, like China, are using this new tool.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters that what he learned was “eye-opening.” It comes after he told senators in a letter over the weekend that Congress is moving quickly on his AI policy framework, which Schumer said Tuesday could take months to make.
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“This meeting shows just how deep, complicated, and important it is to get real work done. It will be very tough. It will be one of the most difficult jobs Congress has ever had to do, but it will also be one of the most important. Schumer said, “We can’t run away from it.”
He also said that the U.S. is in a race against China and other “bad actors” to create artificial intelligence (AI).
“Our plan for making laws is not years, nor is it days or weeks, but months,” he said. “We can’t move too quickly… But we can’t move so slowly that other totalitarian governments or bad people in the business sector get ahead of us.
Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said she felt good about the country’s situation after the meeting, but she warned that the U.S. can’t slow down when it comes to building AI skills.
“I’m happy with where we are. “We still have a lot of work to do, but I’m happy with where we are with that briefing,” said Ernst. “China should always be on our minds, and we should always try to do things better and faster than China.”
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., agreed that there was general worry about China in the room, but he said Tuesday’s secret meeting was more helpful than scary about this threat.
Kaine told Fox News Digital, “I think we are all very worried about it.” “I didn’t leave feeling more worried. I probably have a more detailed idea of what we can do and what they can do. It’s been a good set of meetings that have helped us get ready to make laws.”
Gary Peters, D-Michigan, who is the chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, didn’t say much about the meeting, but he did say that Congress was “always doing something” about AI.
“It taught me a lot. “The private session taught me a lot, and I’m sure it’s affecting some of the conversations we’re having right now,” Peters said.
Sen. Todd Young, a Republican from Indiana, even praised the Biden administration for how it is treating AI.
“I think the more I learn, the more confident I am that my colleagues and certain key members of the administration are taking the opportunities and risks of AI-based technological development seriously,” Young said.
When asked about China and other foreign risks, Young said, “It’s mostly just the speeding up of threats that are already there.” “So, it would mean that everyone would be able to make dangerous weapons or chemicals. It would mean falling behind in developing the best artificial intelligence-based products, and maybe the biggest risk would be a lack of creativity.
Schumer put together a group of four senators from both parties to work on AI. Young is one of them. The group was in charge of setting up a series of learning events, like the meeting on Tuesday so that peers could learn more about AI as Congress tries to keep up with its lightning-fast progress.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., another Republican in the group, told Fox News Digital: Tuesday, 59 senators went to the session and said it “woke them up” to America’s defense AI-based powers. But he didn’t leave the meeting worried about the U.S.’s ability to compete.
Rounds said, “I thought the panel did a good job of explaining the opportunities we have to defend our country with AI, what we’re using now, and what our enemies can do that we need to worry about.”
“I think that for some of the members who haven’t worked in this area before, it was a wake-up call about how deeply AI is built into our defenses as a technology,” he said.
