Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Announcing Historic and Vital All Senators Briefings on Artificial Intelligence

This morning, I released a Dear Colleague – alongside Senators Heinrich, Rounds, and Young – announcing three Senators-only briefings on artificial intelligence taking place starting in the next few weeks.

These bipartisan briefings will culminate in the first-ever classified All Senate briefing on AI’s impact on national security. In fact, all three briefings are the first All-Senators briefings on AI.

The briefings will be led by some of the top minds in AI, and will help Senators develop much-needed experience on the defining technological shift of this century.

I urge all my colleagues to attend these briefings, because it won’t be long before we see AI’s dramatic changes in the workplace, in the classroom, in our living rooms – and in virtually every corner of our lives. It is already starting to happen. We must be ready.

These All Senate briefings are important because elected representatives in the twenty-first century cannot ignore AI any more than we can ignore national security, job creation, or our civil liberties. AI will permanently impact all these things and more.

The first briefing, in the next few weeks, will focus on the state of artificial intelligence today.

The second briefing will focus on where this technology is headed in the future, and how America can stay at the forefront of innovation.

The third, our first-ever classified briefing on AI, will focus on how our adversaries will use AI against us, while detailing how defense and intelligence agencies will use this technology to keep Americans safe.

We will share more details on dates, times, and speakers in the coming days, and again I urge every Senator, Democrat and Republican, to attend all three briefings. And I thank Senators Heinrich and Rounds and Young for cosponsoring these briefings with me.

The Senate – and all leaders – have an obligation to deepen our expertise in AI, because if we do our jobs correctly, we can ensure AI becomes a remarkable force for human prosperity, while mitigating its very real potential risks.

I look forward to attending these briefings, and again thank Senators Rounds, Heinrich, and Young for joining me in this important announcement.

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