WASHINGTON (CN) — House leadership on Tuesday unveiled a new task force they say will help lawmakers rise to meet the cornucopia of policy challenges posed by artificial intelligence.
The bipartisan working group is Congress’ latest attempt to get its arms around the nascent AI industry. House leadership says the coalition aims to strike a careful balance in regulating the technology, exploring regulatory guardrails and anticipating possible threats while simultaneously protecting U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence.
In a statement Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the new task force will produce a report including “guiding principles, forward-looking recommendations and bipartisan policy proposals.”
The 24-member team will be led by two California lawmakers: Representative Jay Obernolte, a Republican, and Representative Ted Lieu, a Democrat.
As of Tuesday morning, the exact details of the task force’s work were sparse. A spokesperson for Johnson’s office did not immediately return a request for comment on when the team would first meet or how long they would have to deliver their report to Congress.
Despite that, House leaders posed the working group as a step towards a bipartisan AI policy solution.
“Because advancements in artificial intelligence have the potential to rapidly transform our economy and our society, it is important for Congress to work in a bipartisan manner to understand and plan for both the promises and complexities of this transformative technology,” Johnson said.
Expressing a position already taken by some of his Republican colleagues, the House speaker said that lawmakers should weigh potential regulatory guardrails for artificial intelligence while continuing to “encourage innovation and maintain our country’s competitive edge.”
“The United States has led the world in the development of advanced AI,” task force chair Obernolte said. “[W]e must work to ensure that AI realizes its tremendous potential to improve the lives of people across our country.”
Democrats expressed a similar point of view. Jeffries said in a statement that the rise of AI “presents a unique set of challenges and guardrails must be put in place to protect the American people.”
“Congress needs to work in a bipartisan way to ensure that America continues to lead in this emerging space, while also preventing bad actors from exploiting this evolving technology,” he wrote.
Lieu, the task force’s co-chair, said Congress has an “essential role” in overseeing the AI industry and that lawmakers must explore “how to ensure AI benefits society instead of harming us.”
“I know this will not be an easy or quick or one-time task,” he wrote, adding that he was “heartened” by bipartisan interest in exploring policy options.
The House’s formal inquiry into AI regulations comes after months of scrutiny on the industry from both houses of Congress.
In the Senate, lawmakers have proposed establishing a new federal agency to oversee artificial intelligence. Senators have also introduced legislation that would clamp down on the use of AI technology in everyday life — a group of Senate Democrats in September unveiled a bill that they say would increase transparency in how businesses use artificial intelligence tools.
Some lawmakers have also said Congress should support the U.S. artificial intelligence industry to keep Washington at the top of the global technology pile. West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin has worried about China’s focus on AI, including pointing out that Beijing has a formal artificial intelligence strategy and has far outspent the U.S. in the sector.
“America must accelerate our efforts to compete and defend against China on AI,” he said in September.
The push for AI regulation comes hot on the heels of the rise of social media companies, which some lawmakers say Congress failed to regulate adequately.
This time around, however, the heads of artificial intelligence companies have said that they are open to working with Capitol Hill to establish guardrails for the emerging technology. Tech giants, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI founder Sam Altman and billionaire Elon Musk have met with lawmakers in recent months to discuss potential paths forward.
Musk, for one, has been a proponent of an independent federal agency for regulating AI.
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