Tech Chiefs to Gather in Washington Next Month on A.I. Regulations

The News

Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, plans to kick off a series of listening sessions next month on the regulation of artificial intelligence with Elon Musk of Tesla, Sundar Pichai of Google, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Satya Nadella of Microsoft.

Mr. Schumer’s office said on Monday that the tech leaders were set to convene in Washington on Sept. 13 for the first of several meetings for lawmakers to hear from A.I. experts. Jensen Huang, the chief executive of the chip maker Nvidia, and Eric Schmidt, the former chief executive of Google, will also attend.

The “A.I. insight forums” are closed-door listening sessions for lawmakers as they try to devise regulations for A.I. technologies. Mr. Schumer, the majority leader, said the sessions were intended to educate members of Congress on the risks posed by A.I. on jobs, the spread of disinformation and intellectual property theft. Lawmakers will also learn about opportunities created by the technology in the field of research on diseases, his office said.

The Sept. 13 meeting will also include members from civil rights and labor groups and the creative community. Axios reported earlier on the details of the meeting.

Why It Matters

The guest list for the Sept. 13 forum signals the important role that tech companies will play in the creation of A.I. regulations.

To influence the debate, some tech chiefs have voiced their views on A.I. regulations to lawmakers. Mr. Altman, for instance, has become a fixture on Capitol Hill, appearing at a congressional hearing this year and meeting with more than 100 lawmakers.

Lawmakers and the White House have also leaned on the tech executives for guidance on regulations. Last month, the White House announced that Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Meta had agreed to voluntary safeguards around their A.I. technology, including stress-testing their systems for security flaws.

But many tech companies disagree on regulations. OpenAI and Microsoft have supported the idea of having one agency regulate the technology, a proposal that IBM and Google have opposed. Mr. Musk, who also owns X, the company formerly known as Twitter, has called for a moratorium on developing some of the most advanced uses of A.I., while other tech leaders have disagreed with that approach.

Background

The United States is behind on global regulations. Europe this year is expected to enact an A.I. law that would curtail facial recognition technology and force companies like OpenAI to disclose sources of data for their technology.

The Sept. 13 meeting is set to begin a long-awaited process on rules in the United States for A.I. In June, Mr. Schumer announced a plan to start “from scratch” and educate lawmakers to come up with legislation that strikes a balance between encouraging the technology’s development and protecting individuals.

Mr. Schumer said he would host forums to learn about the risks and potential opportunities of A.I. from technologists, academics, and civil rights and labor groups. The forums could help shape legislation that could be introduced within the year.