In brief: Some of the biggest names in the tech industry, including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai, Bill Gates, Jensen Huang, and Sam Altman, are in Washington today for a closed-door AI forum to offer their opinions on regulation within the industry.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will be hosting the event, the first of nine "AI Insight Forums" scheduled to take place this fall. Joining the tech CEOs and industry legends will be some union and civil society group leaders.
"For Congress to legislate on artificial intelligence is for us to engage in one of the most complex and important subjects Congress has ever faced," Schumer said. He added that the forums will be "unlike any other that we have seen in the Senate in a very long time, perhaps ever: a coming together of top voices in business, civil rights, defense, research, labor, the arts, all together, in one room, having a much-needed conversation about how Congress can tackle AI."
Today's event will last six hours and be split over two sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Axios reports that OpenAI boss Sam Altman, who has previously called for AI regulation, will be there for both sessions.
Nvidia has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI boom this year, thanks to the global popularity of its AI-focused chips such as the H100 that have helped push team green's market cap above $1 trillion. CEO Huang is expected to call for predictable and transparent AI regulation, and wants existing laws to be examined closely by senators before they pass new ones.
Some of the topics expected to be discussed during the forums include the use of AI to create convincing deepfakes for criminal purposes and election interference. Just last week, Microsoft warned that Chinese operatives have been using artificial intelligence to generate images with the aim of spreading disinformation and influencing US voters ahead of the 2024 election.
Back in March, more than 1,100 signatories, including Musk, signed a letter urging a six-month pause on advanced AI development over concerns that systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity.
In July, the White House persuaded Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI to sign a document dictating several voluntary commitments for ensuring a "Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy" AI. The White House said the seven companies have a responsibility to ensure that their products are safe, and must preserve Americans' rights and safety while upholding the "highest standards" to promote innovation.
