WASHINGTON—Sens. Josh Hawley and Richard Blumenthal introduced a new bill that broadly regulates artificial intelligence, without properly defining what they mean by it.
During Politico’s Global Tech Day conference earlier today, Sen. Ted Cruz said, “Congress doesn’t know what the hell it’s doing” in regards to AI regulation. Unfortunately, Sen. Hawley and Blumenthal were clearly itching to prove him right by introducing the “No Section 230 Immunity for AI Act.” This legislation is proof that some lawmakers are more keen to regulate AI than to understand it.
“The bill would jeopardize important tools like autocorrect, content recommendations and search engines. Lawmakers shouldn’t rush to release regulations before seriously engaging with the history and functionality of AI tools, many of which have been publicly available for years,” said NetChoice Vice President & General Counsel Carl Szabo. “The bill even fails to properly define generative AI—the technology it aims to regulate—and is therefore not ready for serious discussion and consideration.”
The bill defines “generative AI” circularly as “an artificial intelligence system that generates [media].”
Szabo continued: “AI products are already covered by existing state and federal regulations. Any individual or firm that discriminates in hiring, lending, mortgage applications or education is liable for violating existing laws – whether they used AI or any other tools in making decisions that harm Americans.”
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