Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., said Tuesday that Congress has been slow to address the privacy and regulatory challenges posed by artificial intelligence (AI) and voiced doubts that lawmakers can come together on a bipartisan framework for the rapidly advancing technology.
Beyer said he’s an “AI optimist” and that his current studies as a master’s degree candidate in computer science have shown him how fast AI is changing “and how much it has the potential to change our lives.” However, he said that most on the Hill don’t feel a similar urgency to address rising privacy and regulatory challenges posed by the technology.
“My guess is that at 430 people, maybe 25 are paying attention in a serious ‘what’s happening in terms of AI policy?’ It’s not that they’re not serious people. It’s just they’re not coming from technical backgrounds,” Beyer said at a Punchbowl News conference in Washington.
The area where there has been some attention, Beyer noted, is in drafting a national regulatory AI framework following President Donald Trump’s executive order in December that preempted most state AI laws.
Some Republicans – such as Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif. – have been leading efforts to draft that framework, which will likely take a sectoral approach to AI regulations.
Where Beyer said he is a pessimist, is whether Congress can come together to make that framework bipartisan.
“We can’t deal with climate change, we can’t deal with immigration reform, we can’t deal with Social Security. We’re not good at the debt. Why are we magically going to be able to do a good framework for AI at the federal level?” Beyer said.
He pushed back against the order preempting state laws and said, “Until we do something real that really sets up that framework, it’s irresponsible not to let the states try. Plus … when the states do it, we understand what works and what doesn’t work.”
Beyer added that he believes Congress has made little progress in AI regulation and legislation since the Bipartisan Task Force on AI – outside of the Take It Down Act introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. He said that Republicans and Democrats need to work together to draft more policy.
“It’s got to be Democrats and Republicans sitting down with all the things that we know we have to do, and getting a bill and putting it out there,” Beyer said. “And if the Republicans are ahead on it, great, I’d love to be a part of it, as long as they don’t put in something like the present preemption.”
While he said he’s not sure if that will happen this year with the upcoming primaries, Beyer said if Democrats take back the House next year, he will “be doing everything I can with the new speaker and his team next year,” to push for more work on AI.
“I’m a pessimist just about Congress’s ability, in the short run, to get things done, which is why I think we all need to figure out: How do we take an institution full of good people who are trying to do good things across party lines, and get them to work together in a way that actually gets results,” Beyer said.