OpenAI CEO to Testify Before US Senate Panel Next Week on Concerns Regarding AI Regulations

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will make his first appearance before a Senate panel next week as the US Congress grapples with how best to regulate artificial intelligence as the technology becomes more powerful and widespread.

Altman will testify before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology & the Law on Tuesday on what laws might be needed to safeguard Americans as government and companies begin to use AI in everything from medicine to finance to surveilling workers.

It will be Altman’s first testimony before Congress, the panel said in announcing the hearing.

Altman will also attend a dinner on Monday night for members of the House of Representatives, according to Representative Ted Lieu’s office which is co-hosting the event.

Altman was part of a White House meeting on AI last week that discussed how to ensure regulatory safeguards. In response to a question about whether companies agree on regulations, Altman told reporters, “We’re surprisingly on the same page on what needs to happen.”

Another of the witnesses is Christina Montgomery, chief privacy officer at IBM.

“Artificial intelligence urgently needs rules and safeguards to address its immense promise and pitfalls,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, chair of the panel. “This hearing begins our Subcommittee’s work in overseeing and illuminating AI’s advanced algorithms and powerful technology.”

Recently, Britain’s competition regulator also said it would start examining the impact of artificial intelligence on consumers, businesses, and the economy and whether new controls were needed on technologies such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

The sudden popularity of generative AI applications such as ChatGPT and Midjourney has highlighted a technology that could upend the way businesses and society operate.

© Thomson Reuters 2023