OpenAI CEO Sam Altman calls for regulation of AI in first appearance before US Congress

Kicking off his first appearance in front of the US Congress on Tuesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman called for the regulation of artificial intelligence as the technology continues to gain momentum while also posing an increasing number of threats. Emphasising that “regulation of AI is essential," Altman told the Senate judiciary committee that regulatory measures could help AI's pros outweigh the cons.

“We think that regulatory intervention by governments will be critical to mitigate the risks of increasingly powerful models,” he said, according to The Guardian. Altman, who is the man behind renowned chatbot ChatGPT, proposed that the US government could consider proper licensing and testing requirements for the development and subsequent launch of AI models.

Altman calls for new framework 

Furthermore, he said that safety standard rules and specific test models must be put in place before the technologies are deployed. This, according to him, would help independent auditors to carefully analyse the models prior to the launch. He also stressed on the need for having a brand new framework, as existing ones such as Section 230 would be insufficient to regulate the system. “For a very new technology we need a new framework,” Altman said.

For Senators Josh Hawley and Richard Blumenthal, the hearing is a baby step towards truly grasping the intricacies of AI. Blumenthal stated that he was able to recognize what he called the “promises” of the technology including “curing cancer, developing new understandings of physics and biology, or modeling climate and weather”.

Tuesday's hearing came at a time when several prominent AI experts and ethicists such as Google researchers Dr Timnit Gebru and Meredith Whitaker have rung alarm bells about the rapid growth of AI. “The idea that this is going to magically become a source of social good … is a fantasy used to market these programs,” Whitaker said in a recent interview with Meet the Press Reports.