Headline Roundup • May 17th, 2023
Should AI Be Regulated?
Summary from the AllSides News Team
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s call for regulation of AI on Tuesday highlighted a growing conversation around how the newly-prominent technology should be regulated.
The Details: On Tuesday, Altman told senators that regulatory intervention was “critical” and said he wanted to “work with the government” to mitigate the technology’s risks. In response, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) told the ChatGPT executive, “Talk in plain English and tell us what rules to implement.”
For Context: On Thursday, May 11, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) unveiled an AI regulation framework after meeting with tech experts over the preceding weeks. The plan would require independent reviews of new AI systems before public release. Additionally, FTC Chair Lina Khan pledged to be “vigilant” against the potential misuse of AI in anticompetitive business practices.
Perspectives: Some voices from the right were skeptical of regulation, and some voices from the left framed it as particularly important. Regarding Altman, a Washington Examiner (Lean Right bias) columnist tied his call for regulation to similar calls by large corporations seeking to hurt their competitors. Also, a Bloomberg (Lean Left bias) tech columnist said Altman’s Senate hearing “ignored good policy ideas already in play.”
Featured Coverage of this Story
Angel Garcia/Bloomberg
Powerful artificial intelligence systems can be of enormous benefit to society and help us tackle some of the world’s biggest problems. Machine learning models are already playing a significant role in diagnosing diseases, accelerating scientific research, boosting economic productivity and cutting energy usage by optimising electricity flows on power grids, for example. It would be a tragedy if such gains were jeopardised as a result of a backlash against the technology. But that danger is growing as abuses of AI technology multiply, in areas such as unfair discrimination, disinformation and...
It’s both exciting and unsettling to have a realistic conversation with a computer. Thanks to the rapid advance of generative artificial intelligence, many of us have now experienced this potentially revolutionary technology with vast implications for how people live, work and communicate around the world. The full extent of generative A.I.’s potential is still up for debate, but there’s little doubt it will be highly disruptive.
The last time we found ourselves facing such widespread social change wrought by technology was the onset of the Web 2.0 era in the mid-2000s. New, innovative companies...
Sam Altman, the CEO of the leading artificial intelligence company OpenAI, told Congress to pass more regulations on his industry.
So, of course, you get a shocked reaction from plenty of sources. According to Axios, “Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) called it ‘historic’ that a company was coming to Congress pleading for regulation.”
Liberal lobbyist and political operative Warren Kinsella stated the ignorant conventional wisdom perfectly:
Sigh. Yes, actually, it is often that you see industry leaders lobbying for regulations that will increase the costs for potential future competitors and boost the power of the politically connected.
AllSides Picks
Headline Roundup
Meta Agrees to New Facebook, Instagram Limits for Teens in $18 Billion Settlement
August 26th, 2026
Blog
Meta Settles with 29 States
AllSides Staff
August 27th, 2026
.png)
Blog
The Insight: Back to School, Behind on Reading: Why America’s Literacy Crisis Persists
AllSides Staff
August 21st, 2026
Red Blue Translator
