CONGRESS WEIGHS IN: Should tech companies pause 'giant AI experiments' as Elon Musk and others suggest?

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CONGRESS WEIGHS IN: Should tech companies pause 'giant AI experiments'?

Congressional lawmakers weighed in on whether companies should pause advanced artificial intelligence training in the wake of an open letter signed by Elon Musk and other tech leaders.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressional lawmakers weighed in Thursday on whether companies should pause advanced artificial intelligence training in the wake of an open letter signed by Elon Musk and other tech leaders.

"I think Elon Musk is rightfully being cautious," Rep. Brian Mast, a Florida Republican, told Fox News. "I appreciate that he's looking to put the brakes on, and I agree with it."

Elon Musk and other tech industry leaders signed an open letter calling for a six-month pause on training new, advanced artificial intelligence systems. (Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

ELON MUSK, APPLE CO-FOUNDER, OTHER TECH EXPERTS CALL FOR PAUSE ON 'GIANT AI EXPERIMENTS': 'DANGEROUS RACE'

Musk, 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and several other tech leaders urged AI labs to pause development of advanced systems in a recent open letter titled "Pause Giant AI Experiments." 

"AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity," warns the letter, which has been signed by more than 1,400 people.

The letter asks developers to halt training AI systems more powerful than GPT-4 for at least six months. San Francisco startup OpenAI's GPT-4 is the successor to the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT.

SHOULD TECH COMPANIES PAUSE ‘GIANT AI EXPERIMENTS’?

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Rep. Victoria Spartz said she's less concerned with Musk's opinion and more concerned with protecting Americans' data and online privacy.

"We as the government have a duty to protect people rights and rights to life, liberty and property and we do not have good definitions on who owns your data," the Indiana Republican said. "Big Tech companies are really abusing that and using unlimited immunity to suppress people's rights. And I think that's very dangerous."

Rep. Marcus Molinaro said innovation is important, but so is protecting privacy.

Republican Rep. Marcus Molinaro said innovation and advancements are important, but there also need to be guardrails to protect personal safety and privacy. (Jon Michael Raasch/Fox News Digital)

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"I would hope we could find some area of common ground to establish the appropriate guardrails," the New York Republican said.

To hear more from lawmakers, click here.