Artificial intelligence continues to evolve in science labs, boardrooms, and workplaces, but legislative efforts to regulate its use at the federal level might be as complicated to navigate as the Python and Java code behind the tools is to the non-technical laymen.
To understand what is moving in the compliance landscape, lawmakers, AI tech experts, and business leaders came together in Washington, DC, Thursday for a policy discussion focused on AI in the workplace, hosted by Axios and TechNet.
Policy and government relations execs at companies that sell tools and platforms that use the tech, as well as Congressional leaders themselves, are eyeing state governments to take on the bulk of the legislative burden right now in AI’s infancy.
“What [states] are doing is what they often do, seeing a vacuum,” said John Sampson, head of US public policy at Workday. “As long as that vacuum exists, they will continue to engage on trying to figure out what the path forward on regulating AI is.”
“Most of the action” he said is occurring at statehouses, such as Texas, Colorado, Connecticut, and California. Some state governments are actively developing regulations, particularly for high-risk AI applications, he added.
Sampson said industry stakeholders are prepared to work with any government body that seeks their input. He noted that while some in the industry are concerned about a “patchwork” regulatory landscape. State legislators are trying to coordinate efforts through an interstate working group to mitigate inconsistencies.
“We know what the parameters of this discussion look like. We know where we think the ultimate end goal should be: It should be a role-based, risk-based approach,” he said.
What’s up with Congress? While Congress remains slow to act amid rampant political polarization and a change in leadership at the executive branch, experts and policymakers do see opportunities for bipartisan action on AI at the federal level.
The House Bipartisan Task Force on AI, last session, created what Sampson described as “a very, very deep, rich roadmap” for congressional action.
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA), who cochaired the committee with Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-CA), participated in the event and said the committee produced a report with recommendations for legislating responsible AI innovation in the US.
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“There were 12 Republicans, 12 Democrats, and we all signed onto a bipartisan report that sets forth a lot of recommendations for how we think we should have responsible AI innovation,” Lieu said. “Hopefully, we can implement some of those recommendations this term.”
Rep. Erin Houchin (R-IN) acknowledged that partisan divisions have deepened, but suggested some work is still possible.
“With the change in the administration, people have gone a little bit more to their corners,” she said. “I’m hopeful that there’ll still be some bipartisanship on both data privacy and AI…Other countries are advancing rapidly, and the United States has to be competitive. We want to have responsible regulation that doesn’t stifle innovation.”
Private-sector input. When Congress is ready to legislate, business leaders will be ready and willing to deliver recommendations and impact the final compliance landscape, according to Josh Kallmer, global head of public policy and government relations at Zoom.
“Government exists, in part, to protect people,” Kallmer said. “We see a lot of different ways of doing it successfully.”
Kallmer said business stakeholders are actively willing to be a part of the process, and called for a mix of legislative guardrails and industry-developed standards.
“We’re a partner to governments, and we’re listening to them,” Kallmer said. “That doesn’t mean we’re agreeing with everything that they say, but we’re just trying to be thoughtful about the risks that people have identified and find narrowly-tailored ways of addressing them that still enable all of the innovation that we want.”
First, we reconcile. Despite bipartisan agreement on the need for some sort of AI regulation in the immediate future, Houchin said Congress is focused on the nation’s finances, commandeering much of the time and energy of lawmakers on Capitol Hill. (Sounds like a mundane and oft-repetitive job that we should fork over to AI to handle…)
“Right now, I expect the unexpected in Congress,” Houchin said. “But we’ve got to get through reconciliation. We’ve got to get through our appropriations, [and] our committee work is going to be focused on that for the foreseeable future.”