Senators get schooled by Musk et al on AI

Will political leaders ever become AI fluent?

Happy Friday all,

Imagine a world where the folks responsible for crafting our laws were actually up-to-speed with the latest advancements in technology, especially something as groundbreaking as AI. Surprisingly, or maybe not, that's not quite the case right now….

Politics is about power — so the failure of policymakers to understand the technologies, which, well… equate to cold, hard power, baffles me. (It's one of the reasons I moved from working with policymakers to technologists.)

If you want to understand power in the 21st century, you have to understand technology. Period.

The chasm of knowledge — and power — between the lawmaker and the technologist was fully displayed again this week in Washington.

Picture the scene at the closed-door ‘AI Forum.’ Sixty senators listened quietly (no questions allowed) as the real power brokers of our age— the Titans of Tech— delivered monologues on AI. Alongside Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Sam Altman, and Mark Zuckerberg, several AI ethicists and academics were also in attendance.

The only Senator who did manage to pose a question was Chuck Schumer, the Senate Majority Leader, who convened the meeting.

When he asked his assembled guests:

"Does the government need to play a role in regulating AI?"

……every hand went up.

This led Schumer to conclude,

"That gives us a message here: We have to try to act, as difficult as the process may be.”

Ermmm. A little obvious, non?

But sometimes the obvious needs to be stated. And as obvious as it is that lawmakers need to get their heads wrapped around AI (and fast!) it's also obvious that the politicians aren't the ones leading here.

Ironically, the leadership comes from those who keep calling on the government to lead — notably, the leaders of the companies that are developing and advancing AI.

Perhaps we can all take a clue from Elon Musk — he’s been stepping up his AI game recently — but he also managed to steal the headlines from the event.

Emerging from the Forum, he told the gathered press corps:

"We need a referee… [This meeting] may go down in history as very important to the future of civilization.”

Say what you will about him, but the man has a nose for a good soundbite.

So, as this dance revolving around power, technology, and ‘saving humanity’ plays out — we have to ask ourselves: who's really holding the reins here?

I'll let you draw your conclusions,

Namaste,

Nina