In an unusual closed-door meeting of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, executives from some of the country's largest technology companies expressed unanimous support for the idea of government regulation of artificial intelligence. But there is little consensus on what exactly regulation should look like, and the path to legislation remains difficult.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer organized the private forum as part of a push for artificial intelligence legislation. He said he asked everyone in the room — including nearly two dozen tech executives, advocates and skeptics — whether the government should play a role in oversight of artificial intelligence, and "everybody raised their hands, even though they had different views," he said.
Ideas discussed at the meeting included whether there should be an independent agency to oversee certain aspects of the rapidly evolving technology, how companies can increase transparency, and how the U.S. can stay ahead in the race for artificial intelligence.
"The key point is, it's important for us to have a referee," Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during a break at the day-long forum. "It's actually a very civilized discussion among some of the smartest people in the world."
Musk said the meeting "will probably go down in history as being very important to the future of human civilization."
Other executives attending the meeting included Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. These tech leaders and others outlined their views at the conference, where each attendee had three minutes to speak on a topic of their choice, followed by a panel discussion.
According to participants, during the discussion, Musk and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt raised the existential risks posed by artificial intelligence, while Zuckerberg raised the issue of closed versus “open source” artificial intelligence models. Gates talks about feeding the hungry. IBM CEO Arvind Krishna has expressed opposition to proposals favored by other companies that require licenses to develop artificial intelligence.
Schumer said that in terms of the possible creation of a new regulatory agency, "that's one of the biggest questions we have to answer, and we're going to continue to talk about it." Musk later said he thought a regulatory agency might be created.
Outside the meeting, Google CEO Pichai declined to provide specifics but generally supported the idea of government involvement. "I think it's important for government to play a role in innovating and putting in the right safeguards, and I think this is a productive discussion," he said.
Some senators were critical of the public being excluded from the meeting, arguing that the tech executives should testify publicly.
"I don't know why we would invite all the biggest monopolies in the world to come give Congress advice on how to help them make more money and then shut it down to the public," said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.
Sarah Myers West, managing director of the nonprofit AINow Institute, who did not attend the meeting, estimated that the tech tycoons attending the conference are worth a combined $550 billion.
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