[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 146 (Monday, September 11, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S4338]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                 Artificial Intelligence Insight Forum

  Mr. President, on the AI Insight Forum this Wednesday, I will join 
with Senators Rounds, Young, and Heinrich in hosting one of the most 
important meetings Congress has held in years as we welcome the top 
minds in AI for the Senate's first-ever AI Insight Forum.
  Our inaugural forum will convene leaders from business, civil rights, 
defense, research, labor, the arts, and more--all for a candid debate 
about how Congress can tackle AI's opportunities and AI's challenges. 
These forums will provide the nutrient agar--the basis of knowledge and 
insight--essential for our committees to draft smart and effective 
legislation.
  Wednesday's inaugural forum can be boiled down to three words: 
bipartisan, diverse, and above all, balanced. We will have AI advocates 
and critics, CEOs and unions, leading experts and researchers all 
together in one room, talking about where Congress should start, what 
questions to ask, and how to build a consensus for SAFE innovation. We 
will need every sector of the workforce, every side of the political 
spectrum, all part of the process if we are to succeed. I am proud that 
the participants for the first forum achieve that balance really well.
  That is what any action on AI must be, balanced and bipartisan--
balanced in a way that gives everyone a seat at the table and 
prioritizes both innovation, the kind of transformational innovation 
that AI can bring, whether it is curing disease or improving education 
or making businesses more efficient or protecting our security. But 
there is also innovation in keeping guardrails, the kind of essential 
innovation that is needed to prevent AI from going off track, and we 
might lose it all--and bipartisan because if AI becomes a partisan 
issue, it will paralyze any chance for progress. So I am glad that the 
Senate's interest in AI has been decidedly bipartisan.
  As I said, these forums will be vital for helping our committees do 
the real legislative work of drafting AI policy. They will provide the 
nutrient agar to help the committees draft smart, effective 
legislation.
  The good news is that many of the committees are already hard at work 
on this issue in a truly bipartisan way. I believe our hearing has 
increased the interest of committees to do work here, but it has also 
made it clear that we cannot run away from this issue and put our heads 
in the sand like ostriches even though the issue is so difficult and 
changing and wide-reaching. I want to thank Senators Rounds, Heinrich, 
and Young, as well as committee chairs and ranking members, for their 
work thus far on AI.

  Our subcommittees and committees have already held no fewer than nine 
hearings on AI this year on issues like national security, intellectual 
property, human rights, and more. This week, the Commerce Committee, 
the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and the 
Judiciary Committee are scheduled to hold more hearings on AI 
transparency and oversight, which is just what our insight forums are 
intended to promote.
  I am hopeful that our AI Insight Forums will supercharge the work 
already happening in the Senate by bringing outside voices to give 
their insights, their expertise, and their perspectives on how Congress 
can best proceed.
  So, once again, I thank Senators Rounds, Heinrich, and Young for 
helping to organize this inaugural forum, and I encourage all Senators 
to attend our forum on Wednesday.