To hear estimates about the growing power of AI, one might ask AI chatbots how long it will take Congress to regulate the technology. You could just inquire with your trusty Capitol Hill correspondent. Let’s call this chatbot "ChadGPT." REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK: CONGRESS MEETS AI AS FEARS OF HUMAN EXTINCTION JOLT CAPITOL HILL And it truly doesn’t require that much congressional clairvoyance to divine when lawmakers could address AI – despite the forecast of a looming crisis.
You just need a little understanding of the congressional parliamentary posture over the next few months. It’s doubtful that Congress will do anything about AI until after the midterms. Or, maybe even early next year.
Results of the midterms will likely consume the lame duck session – regardless of which party wins or loses. Plus, lawmakers must fund the government by mid-December. If either the House or Senate flips, it might be March or April next year until Congress returns to AI.
It simply takes Congress a long time to accomplish anything. Especially when there’s a change in who runs the place. The Senate is scheduled to meet for the next two weeks.
But House Members fled the Capitol last week – a day earlier than planned and two weeks earlier than the original schedule – even as the "godfather of AI" visited Capitol Hill. Geoffrey Hinton is professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. He’s a 2004 Nobel laureate for his work on "artificial neural networks." He proffered a stark warning for lawmakers.
Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., summoned Hinton to Capitol Hill for a bipartisan, bicameral briefing on AI. Sanders has called for a ban on "superintelligence." Many lawmakers are furious over what’s unfolded with AI over the past few weeks. I had a battery of questions for Hinton when he emerged from the briefing late last week in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
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