Digital data guardrails are the first step in regulating AI

Over the past several months, I’ve often been asked by reporters, fellow members of Congress and constituents alike what a future with artificial intelligence might look like and what role Congress should play in regulating this revolutionary technology. As the only member of Congress with a graduate degree in AI, and as a computer programmer who has written millions of lines of code over a 30-year career in software development, I’ve devoted substantial thought to these questions.

The postulated dangers of artificial intelligence have long been embodied in our science fiction movies, our sensationalized news and our own worst imaginations: evil robots with red laser eyes rising to take over the world, or a nuclear apocalypse instigated by sentient computers seeking to destroy humanity, of which AI chatbots might seem the first harbingers. The reality is that AI is something completely different. The risks, or what we know of them, are far more abstract, but still equally concerning. Balanced against those risks are the potential benefits of AI, which could lead to an explosion in creativity and productivity unlike anything human society has ever experienced.