This isn’t just TDS, it’s the notion that Democrats like to apply a heavy hand when it comes to regulation
A House Democrat trying to lead her party on artificial intelligence policy sent a warning shot Friday to tech CEOs trying to undermine efforts to regulate the fast-growing technology.
In an interview, Rep. Lori Trahan raised alarm bells over a POLITICO report detailing attempts by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to personally discourage President Donald Trump from moving ahead with plans to establish an independent AI regulator modeled after the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA.
“I don’t think anyone is really comfortable when they see tech executives who are sitting on the stage at the president’s inauguration, and have had to pay millions of dollars to this fund and that fund, calling the shots,” said the Massachusetts Democrat.
Allowing Zuckerberg to call the shots on the proposed AI commission would be tantamount to “a complete abdication of Congress,” Trahan continued. She also suggested she would use her perch on the House Energy and Commerce Committee to work with other Democrats to haul in industry executives like Zuckerberg to testify, should Democrats win back the House majority in the midterms.
Perhaps it’s wise for elected officials and brureaucrats to listen to the actual people involved, eh? Good on Trahan, she at least worked in the private sector for a while for a software company called ChoiceStream, but, was in marketing and than the chief revenue officer, so, doesn’t really understand software.
Unlike other Democrats who have retreated to their corners to work on partisan proposals, Trahan has gone out on a limb by crossing the aisle to broker a deal on a bipartisan AI safety bill with Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) — a package that was originally met with disdain by members of both parties.
Maybe it was bad policy?
Her calls are consistent with left-leaning members like Rep. Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat and chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who has been at the forefront of the most aggressive proposals to crack down on top tech companies.
“The CEOs of Anthropic and OpenAI say that cutting edge AI could be as dangerous as nuclear weapons,” Casar said Thursday on X in response to the POLITICO report. “But Trump is conspiring with billionaires for this technology to be regulated like … Hollywood movies.”
Dems like Casar would prefer regulating everything to the extreme, which ends up stifling the industry.
Trahan said Friday that “reasonable people can disagree on what regulatory construct we come up with” governing development and use of AI.
But, she added, “what I don’t think the American people agree with is that Mark Zuckerberg and President Trump are going to figure that out on a phone call.”
And there’s the TDS. There’s nothing wrong with a phone call. Are citizens, even rich ones, not allowed to discuss issues with elected officials now?
Read: Democrats Upset Over AI CEOs Talking To Trump On Regulation »
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