In a Senate hearing, the CEO of OpenAI supports government regulation
CEO of the business that created ChatGPT, OpenAI, Sam Altman, suggested that the U.S. “might consider a combination of licensing and testing requirements for development and release of AI models above a threshold of capabilities.”
The CEO of one of the biggest AI companies in the nation testified before a Senate committee on Tuesday that the government should force businesses to obtain licenses before they can create powerful artificial intelligence systems.
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, which created ChatGPT, spoke before Congress for the first time and indicated that the United States “might consider a combination of licensing and testing requirements for development and release of AI models above a threshold of capabilities.”
Altman was a witness in a hearing by the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary to explore governance of AI, along with Christina Montgomery, chief privacy and trust officer of IBM, and Gary Marcus, professor emeritus of psychology and neural science at New York University.
Many leading academics and engineers have called for the industry to suspend some development in response to the quick development of AI systems like ChatGPT and have asked for government action if that doesn’t happen.
However, there is no agreement on what broad regulations should entail, and Congress and federal agencies have had difficulty determining their respective responsibilities. A presentation Altman made to around 60 congressmen the day before his testimony left several of them speechless.
Artificial intelligence models could be obliged to divulge the data they were trained on, according to Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.
Should we consider having score cards and nutrition labels—or the equivalent—provided by independent testing labs? packaging that makes it clear to consumers whether the content is trustworthy and what the components are? said Blumenthal.
Altman accepted the notion favorably.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., stated that people might use AI as a reliable source of knowledge. In response, Altman reiterated his belief that the government should be involved in regulating this technology.
Altman stated, “I do believe some regulation would be fairly prudent on this matter. People must be aware of whether they are speaking to an AI and whether the stuff they are viewing is generated or not.
