Source: (Photo by Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — Artificial intelligence shouldn’t be over-regulated from the start, says your senator.
“We want to focus on use-case by use-case, and assess the need to regulate accordingly,” says Senator Todd Young of Indiana. He was a part of a major meeting in Washington Wednesday, which included dozens of senators and some of tech’s biggest names, like Elon Musk.
The topic was of course AI and how it could affect your life. While some people have said AI needs to be heavily regulated now, Senator Young says the potential of AI lies in the hands of whoever uses it, and that’s something the United States can use to its advantage.
“It’s a balance, and I think the real key is making sure the United States, and our companies and innovators and investors, stay ahead of those in the rest of the world,” Young tells CNBC’s Squawk Box.
Young is particularly interested in keeping a few steps ahead of China.
“We want to make sure the United State of America leads the way so that our values are ultimately embedded in this technology. Not the values of anyone else who would leap ahead of us – say the Chinese Communist Party,” Young explains.
The AI meeting was held Wednesday behind closed doors, which is something that upset some people who wanted to know exactly what was being discussed by your elected leaders.
Young says he understands the frustration, but clarifies that Wednesday was just an informal, information gathering kind of conversation.
He says you will be involved in the process in the future, “it was important to have unguarded conversations. We heard things from a number of individuals that I don’t think we would have perhaps heard in a more public setting.”
