Schumer Prepping for Push on AI Policy

Senate Majority Charles E. Schumer is preparing a new push for artificial intelligence rules when Congress returns from its recess next week and is extending invitations to top tech minds to help craft new legislation.

Mr. Schumer is organizing a meeting on AI with major tech leaders, including Elon Musk, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and others, according to reports.

The planned meeting comes as Mr. Schumer has pushed for Democrats to take a lead role in authoring new AI policy.

Mr. Schumer kickstarted the AI lawmaking effort in April and unveiled his “SAFE Innovation Framework” for AI policy at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event in June.

“If people don’t think innovation can be done safely, that will slow AI’s development and prevent us from moving forward,” Mr. Schumer said at the event. “So my SAFE Innovation Framework calls for security, accountability, protecting our foundations, and lastly, explainability — the last being one of the most important and most difficult technical issues in all of AI.”

Mr. Schumer said he would invite AI experts to participate in insight forums this fall as part of the lawmaking process, bypassing the traditional manner of committee hearings featuring senators questioning expert witnesses for a fixed amount of time.

The Democratic leader said he was working with Sens. Martin Heinrich, New Mexico Democrat, Todd Young, Indiana Republican, and Mike Rounds, South Dakota Republican, on the new AI policy framework.

“If we take the typical path, holding congressional hearings with opening statements and each member asking questions five minutes at a time on different issues, we simply won’t be able to come up with the right policies,” Mr. Schumer said at CSIS. “By the time we act, AI will have evolved into something new. This will not do.”

Traditional congressional committee work on artificial intelligence policy is not stopping, however. The Senate Judiciary Committee has been a hub for hearings on AI, with some prominent experts already making the trek to Capitol Hill to testify on potential rules for the emerging technology.

Mr. Altman testified before a Judiciary Committee panel earlier this year and called for new regulations to stop AI tools from being used to manipulate people or help them make bioweapons.

“We think that regulatory intervention by governments will be critical to mitigate the risks of increasingly powerful models,” Mr. Altman said to lawmakers. “For example, the U.S. government might consider a combination of licensing and testing requirements for development and release of AI models above a threshold of capabilities.”

Mr. Schumer’s coming forum between AI experts and lawmakers is intended to be closed-door, according to Axios, which first reported on the September meeting with tech leaders.

Several AI experts and tech leaders have already met with Mr. Schumer privately as he formulated his AI plan. For example, Mr. Musk met with Mr. Schumer on Capitol Hill in April about AI regulation.