It鈥檚 unlikely there are many members of Congress as knowledgeable about the implications of artificial intelligence as Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-CA).
Obernolte is the chair of the bipartisan AI Task Force, which is working on a major report on AI to be released by the end of the year.
鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty clear artificial intelligence is going to change the world,鈥� Obernolte said during 草莓传媒鈥檚 Road to Responsible AI.
He has spent considerable time thinking about AI, ever since high school when his ambition was to be a researcher in AI. Obernolte acknowledged that it鈥檚 鈥渧ery strange symmetry鈥� that he鈥檚 now the congressional point person on AI, given his background.
He completed a degree in computer engineering at the California Institute of Technology and was working on his doctorate in AI at University of California Los Angeles. But then his side hustle writing video game software took off, and he ventured away from academia and into business.
鈥淯ltimately, I got into politics and found myself in Congress,鈥� Obernolte said.
He鈥檚 proud of the work the AI Task Force has done so far, including more than 15 hearings on a variety of AI topics.
The Democratic co-chair of the task force is a fellow Californian, Rep. Ted Lieu.
鈥淚 am cautiously optimistic that our report will be the furthest thinking document on AI that鈥檚 been produced by the legislative branch so far,鈥� Obernolte said.
Public misconceptions about AI
As someone who has been immersed in AI for much of his life, Obernolte is familiar with the concerns that have been raised about its use 鈥� and potential misuse.
He said many impressions of AI have been 鈥渋nformed or misinformed鈥� by decades of science fiction and pop culture.
鈥淚f you ask the average American, what are the chief dangers of AI? What is the maximum potential downside? You鈥檒l get an answer out of a 鈥楾erminator鈥� movie where an army of evil robots rises up to take over the world with … their red laser eyes,鈥� he said.
But he said the task force and lawmakers look at a lot of serious issues: the potential spread of聽 disinformation, national security implications, potential malicious use of AI to pierce digital data privacy and use of AI to conduct cyber fraud.
鈥淲e call it the parade of horribles and suss out what is government鈥檚 responsibility to guard against the public, guard the public against those threats and then to recommend a path for carrying out that action,鈥� he said.
The task force has 24 members 鈥渨ho are highly engaged and educated鈥� on the issue, Obernolte said, adding that鈥檚 important as the task force moves forward on trying to coordinate AI regulations with federal agencies.
Don鈥檛 鈥榬egulate for the sake of regulating鈥�
Obernolte, a Republican, and task force member Virginia Rep. Don Beyer, a Democrat, agree that regulation of AI needs to avoid what they view as an onerous .
Obernolte said the congressional task force is recommending a different path. 鈥淲e call it the 鈥榟ub and spoke鈥� approach,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e believe in sectoral regulation.鈥�
He noted that many in the United States believe that AI is currently unregulated and that the country is well behind other foreign governments.
Obernolte pointed out that the Food and Drug Administration has already processed more than a thousand applications for the use of AI and medical devices.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 come up with a risk context for usage more consequential than a medical device that鈥檚 being used to make clinical decisions for health care or being implanted in someone鈥檚 body, and yet the FDA is already having to navigate this space,鈥� he said,
He also pointed out that too much federal regulation can undermine developments in the private sector. While large companies like Apple and Google have plenty of lawyers to navigate legal matters, small companies don鈥檛 have those resources.
Over-regulation can hurt 鈥渢wo guys trying to start the next Google in a garage somewhere,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 important to point out to people that you can鈥檛 just regulate for the sake of regulating,鈥� he added.
How can deep fakes in political ads be regulated?
Obernolte said there is a need to prevent the misuse of deep fakes 鈥� making something look and appear human when it鈥檚 not.
Concerns have been raised about fake social media posts that can make it appear a politician has said something they never actually said.
鈥淲e could all agree as a society that that鈥檚 a bad thing and that shouldn鈥檛 be allowed,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 where the rubber hits the road that matters, which is, how do you articulate that in legislation?鈥�
He acknowledged it鈥檚 complicated.
鈥淔or example, if a political opponent were to use generative AI to create an image of Darth Vader with his arm around me and publicize that … they would argue that that is parody, right?鈥� he said.
He also noted it鈥檚 free speech. Would a reasonable person believe that Darth Vader was really in that picture with him? 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 what gets at the crux of the argument,鈥� he said.
Although it鈥檚 a complicated issue, he believes the task force is well on its way to getting its arms around the problem.
Task force report coming soon
Obernolte is looking forward to the release of the task force鈥檚 report.
He said the aforementioned issue touches on matters involving intellectual property.
鈥淲hen our report comes out … one of the most voluminous sections is the one on intellectual property because there are a lot of very thorny intellectual property issues that we鈥檙e going to have to solve with respect to AI, and this is just one of them,鈥� he said.
In addition to the report work, the task force has already backed numerous bills related to AI.
He said that reflects one of the 鈥減illars of the report,鈥� which is to embrace the concept of incrementalism.
鈥淎I is such a technologically diverse field. It is so fast-moving, it is absolutely impossible to pass one piece of regulation today, this year, and call it good,鈥� Obernolte said.
Among the bills that he hopes to see passed is the , which would establish resources to help small business working to develop cutting-edge AI systems that are safe and transparent.
鈥淚t鈥檚 also important to give the American public some confidence that Congress is capable of dealing with this issue,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd if we can get some bills actually signed into law that make those meaningful first steps, I think we will demonstrate that.鈥�
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