Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will use a high profile hearing today to push for “light-touch” regulation of AI and preview legislation to accomplish this goal.
The hearing will feature OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft President Brad Smith and AMD CEO Lisa Su.
Cruz will describe his upcoming bill as one that would “remove barriers to AI adoption, prevent needless state over-regulation and allow the AI supply chain to rapidly grow here in the U.S.,” according to a copy of his remarks shared with us.
The Texas Republican was a longtime critic of the Biden administration’s emphasis on assessing the risks of advanced AI systems and trying to write best practices to mitigate any concerns. In Cruz’s remarks, he’ll slam people in the tech industry who agreed the government should have a hand in AI safety.
“Many in industry foolishly and eagerly support such paternalism,” Cruz will say. “All of this busybody bureaucracy is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
Altman et al. The OpenAI CEO is planning to weigh in on safety. Altman will express confidence that the United States will reach artificial general intelligence — which can match humans in a range of tasks — within President Donald Trump’s term.
“But AGI’s full potential won’t be realized unless it’s safe,” Altman will say, according to excerpts we obtained. Still, Altman focuses on safety efforts within OpenAI, not government initiatives.
AMD’s Su will urge the panel to champion open approaches to AI so that different models and hardware systems can work together. The open approach allows startups to get into the industry more quickly, she’ll say.
The chips CEO is also expected to call for building up the U.S. supply chain for manufacturing advanced semiconductors. And Su is planning to touch on immigration as part of a workforce strategy involving education and training.
And Microsoft’s Smith is planning to discuss the importance of exporting AI to allies, we learned.
