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OpenAI CEO: Artificial Intelligence Needs Regulation

Speaking at a Senate hearing in Washington, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman addressed public concerns about the fast-growing technology and called for the creation of an agency to license leading artificial intelligence.

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A ChatGPT is an impressive but controversial writing tool that can generate paragraphs of humanlike text. (Dreamstime/TNS)
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(TNS) — Government regulation is “critical” to keep risks down with artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT, the CEO of the company behind the bot testified Tuesday.

Speaking at a Senate hearing in Washington, OpenAI honcho Sam Altman addressed public concerns about the fast-growing technology and called for the creation of an agency to license leading artificial intelligence.

“As this technology advances, we understand that people are anxious about how it could change the way we live,” Altman said before Congress. “We are, too.”

ChatGPT, which launched last year, is a chat-bot system that uses modern technology to converse with users and answer questions. Common concerns about the tool include students using it to cheat, the potential to spread misinformation and the possibility it will affect people’s jobs.

On Tuesday, Altman contended a regulating agency would be able to take away licenses when needed and “ensure compliance with safety standards.”

“Artificial intelligence will be transformative in ways we can’t even imagine, with implications for Americans’ elections, jobs and security,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said Tuesday. “This hearing marks a critical first step towards understanding what Congress should do.”

Christina Montgomery, IBM’s chief privacy officer, was among those who testified Tuesday, calling for “precision regulation” instead of Altman’s proposal.

“This means establishing rules to govern the deployment of AI in specific use cases, not regulating the technology itself,” Montgomery said.

European lawmakers recently approved an artificial intelligence act that would put rules in place for the technology, making the European Union the first governmental body in the Western Hemisphere to do so.

Altman and Elon Musk, who now owns Twitter, served as original board members for OpenAI, which launched in 2015. The company most recently came out with its GPT-4 model in March.

Later that month, Musk and other tech titans shared an open letter stressing the need for a temporary pause to artificial intelligence research.

“Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth?” reads the letter. “Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us? Should we risk loss of control of our civilization?”

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