Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks In Advance Of Tomorrow’s Speech At CSIS Introducing His Comprehensive AI Framework

Washington, D.C.– Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor laying out the vital importance of a speech he will deliver tomorrow morning at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on how Congress can and should act on artificial intelligence. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

A remarkable change is taking hold in our country and around the world due to artificial intelligence. The public is now more conscious of this technology than ever before. And thanks to recent advancements in machine learning and neural networks, AI’s impacts in the coming years will be world-altering.

Tomorrow morning, I will speak at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on how Congress can begin acting on AI in earnest.

I will share my ideas about a comprehensive framework Congress can use to supercharge AI innovation, in a safe and responsible way. And because AI is moving so fast, it is so complex, and so outside Congress’s expertise, I will talk about some steps we must take to stay ahead of AI’s rapid development.

Many of AI’s impacts are truly exciting: it will reshape how we fight disease, tackle hunger, manage our lives, enrich our minds, and ensure peace. But we cannot ignore AI’s many dangers: AI will dramatically disrupt our workforce, could lead to massive and sophisticated misinformation and weapons, could jaundice our elections and democratic system – and there’s the danger that we may prove incapable of managing this technology at all.

Congress cannot behave like ostriches in the sand when it comes to AI. Some might think it is better to ignore this issue or hope someone else figures it out, because it’s so complex. But ignoring AI is untenable for Congress.

In the twenty-first century, elected representatives must treat AI with the same level of seriousness as national security, job creation, and our civil liberties. Because AI will touch on these issues and many, many more.

I want to thank my colleagues from both sides of the aisle who are already putting AI front and center, including our little team of Senators Heinrich, Young, and Rounds, as well as Chairman Cantwell, Peters, Klobuchar, Warner, and Durbin, as well as their ranking Republican members.

I want to commend colleagues from both sides of the aisle who have spoken out on AI’s challenges, including Senators Bennet, Thune, Blumenthal, and many others.

We must prepare for the age of AI together – both parties working with goodwill bipartisan cooperation. That’s the only way our efforts will succeed in the ways it should. 

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