[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 119 (Wednesday, July 12, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2332-S2333]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, on the AI briefing, yesterday, the 
Senate held its first-ever--its first-ever--classified briefing on the 
national security implications of artificial intelligence. It was an 
eye-opening presentation. Many of us spent a lot of time educating 
ourselves on AI, talking to experts, and holding hearings, but 
yesterday's briefing was a candid wake-up call on how truly complicated 
AI is and how much work, hard work, we have before us.
  This will be an ongoing effort. We want to move quickly but not too 
quickly. We need to move quickly so bad countries--authoritarian 
countries and bad actors, not countries themselves--don't get ahead of 
us, but we can't move too quickly because we have to get this right, 
and it is very complicated. Action on AI will not be a matter of weeks, 
nor of years but, rather, of months.
  I want to thank my colleagues who attended yesterday's briefing. We 
had a terrific turnout of roughly 70 Members--even better than the 
first.
  I want to thank the briefers by name: Dr. Arati Prabhakar, Director 
of the White House Office of Science and Tech; Avril Haines, Director 
of National Intelligence; Kath Hicks, Deputy Secretary of Defense; VADM 
Trey Whitworth, Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence 
Agency; and Dr. Craig Martell, Chief Digital and AI Officer at DOD. 
Each briefer was clear, concise, and informative.
  I was gratified my Republican colleagues came out of the briefing and 
said: Yes, this was a real back-and-forth, not just people reading a 
piece of paper and not just people answering questions.
  For sure, we are not done. Very soon, I will announce the timing for 
our third all-Senate briefing and again urge my colleagues to attend, 
especially those who couldn't make the first two briefings. Learning as 
much as we can about AI as quickly as possible is essential.
  AI is unlike anything Congress has dealt with before. It moves and 
changes so quickly. It is going to affect our world so dramatically. It 
is so much deeper in its complexity and lies so far outside our 
expertise. Coming up with legislative solutions will be one of the most 
difficult things Congress has ever, ever faced, so these briefings are 
an important initial step.
  I don't kid myself on how difficult this is going to be. Some people 
asked why did I decide to take this on. Well, just because an issue is 
difficult or unfamiliar to Congress is no excuse to turn away, 
especially when it is so important and is going to have such a huge 
effect on every American and every person in the world's life. We can't 
throw our hands in the air and hope someone else figures it out.
  Of the many things yesterday's briefing made clear, one of them was 
that government must play a role in making sure AI works for society's 
benefit. The private sector has made stunning progress innovating on 
AI, and Congress needs to be careful not to curb or hinder that 
innovation. But we are going to need guardrails, and the only agent 
that can do that is government.
  Yes, some companies may put guardrails on on their own, but when 
another company refuses to put on those guardrails, that company, the 
original company, will feel the pressure--political or, more 
importantly, economic--and say: Look, we can't have those guardrails 
either. Even if many developers have good intentions, there are always 
going to be rogue actors, unscrupulous companies, and foreign 
adversaries

[[Page S2333]]

that seek to harm us and discard any guardrails at all. We can't expect 
companies to adopt guardrails, as I said, if their competitors won't be 
forced to do so as well.

  So it is only a task that government can do with help and input from 
the experts. That was made clear at the hearings yesterday. Even those 
AI companies that are way out front on this now admit that they need 
some government action, we need some kinds of guardrails.
  Later this year, Congress will host the first-ever AI Insight Forums 
to bring the best developers, experts, and legislators in one room to 
identify the areas where we can take action and to make sure we are 
asking the right questions to begin with. Ensuring our national 
security and safety will be one of the most important issues we 
discuss.
  I want to thank everyone who attended yesterday. It was bipartisan, 
and we must keep this issue bipartisan. How to deal with AI is not a 
Republican issue; it is not a Democratic issue; it is a national issue.
  I really want to thank our little group of Senators--Heinrich, 
Rounds, and Young--for helping organize these briefings. I look forward 
to the third briefing soon.

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