ChatGPT, a rapidly growing artificial intelligence program, has received praise for its ability to write quick responses to a wide range of queries, but has also piqued the interest of US lawmakers with concerns about its impact on national security and education.
ChatGPT was estimated to have 100 million monthly active users just two months after launch, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history and a growing regulatory target.
It was developed by OpenAI, a private company backed by Microsoft Corp, and is freely available to the public. Its pervasiveness has raised concerns that generative AI, such as ChatGPT, could be used to spread misinformation, while educators are concerned that students will use it to cheat.
Representative Ted Lieu, a Democrat on the House Science Committee, stated in a recent New York Times opinion piece that he is excited about AI and the “incredible ways it will continue to advance society,” but he is also “freaked out by A.I., specifically A.I. that is left unchecked and unregulated.”
Lieu introduced a resolution written by ChatGPT that stated Congress should focus on AI “to ensure that the development and deployment of AI is safe, ethical, and respects the rights and privacy of all Americans, and that the benefits of AI are widely distributed and the risks are minimized.”
According to aides to Democratic lawmakers, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman visited Capitol Hill in January and met with tech-oriented lawmakers such as Senators Mark Warner, Ron Wyden, and Richard Blumenthal, as well as Representative Jake Auchincloss.
According to an aide to Wyden, the senator pressed Altman on the importance of ensuring that AI does not include biases that would lead to discrimination in the real world, such as housing or jobs.
“While Senator Wyden believes AI has tremendous potential to accelerate innovation and research, he is laser-focused on ensuring automated systems do not automate discrimination,” said Keith Chu, Wyden’s aide.
According to a second congressional aide, the discussions focused on the rate of change in AI and how it could be used.
According to media reports, ChatGPT has already been banned in schools in New York and Seattle due to concerns about plagiarism. According to one congressional aide, the main source of concern from constituents was educators concerned about cheating.
“We don’t want ChatGPT to be used for misleading purposes in schools or anywhere else,” said OpenAI, “so we’re already developing mitigations to help anyone identify text generated by that system.”
In an interview with Time, OpenAI’s chief technology officer, Mira Murati, said the company welcomed feedback, including from regulators and governments. “It’s not too soon for regulators to intervene,” she said.
Andrew Burt, managing partner of BNH.AI, a law firm focused on AI liability, emphasized national security concerns, adding that he has spoken with lawmakers considering whether to regulate ChatGPT and similar AI systems such as Google’s Bard, though he could not reveal their names.
“The entire value proposition of these types of AI systems is that they can generate content at scales and speeds that humans cannot,” he explained.
“I would expect malicious actors, non-state actors, and state actors with adversarial interests to use these systems to generate information that could be incorrect or harmful to the United States.”
When asked how it should be regulated, ChatGPT declined, saying, “As a neutral AI language model, I don’t have a stance on specific laws that may or may not be enacted to regulate AI systems like me.” However, it went on to list potential regulatory areas of focus, such as data privacy, bias and fairness, and transparency in how answers are written.