Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., moderates a Senate Perspectives on Emerging Technology panel discussion at CES Friday, Jan. 12, 2024. With Rosen, from left, are: Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-NM, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo.
Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024 | 2 a.m.
As the artificial intelligence revolution takes place at an accelerated pace, policymakers need to be innovating equally as fast to enact laws in response, Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., said Friday during a bipartisan panel on technology at the CES technology expo in Las Vegas.
He cited the importance of transparency and strategic assessments in AI as ways to combat “suspicion and distrust” in the technology.
“Each of these things have to be adjudicated and resolved in real time,” Hickenlooper said.
The panel, hosted by U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., was part of the final day of the show, which annually attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to Las Vegas. It was important for lawmakers to be part of the event, Rosen stressed.
“We like to say in Las Vegas, ‘What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,’ ” Rosen said. “But what happens at CES, it doesn’t stay here. It informs what we do in Congress and informs what we do all around the world. … Our observations this week, the lessons we take back to Washington, is going to drive our future federal efforts to serve a critical role in helping us develop that new legislation.”
The panel, titled “Senate Perspectives on Emerging Technology,” opened with a conversation about the need for federal data-privacy laws, particularly with the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence — which was the name of the game at CES 2024.
Hickenlooper said that “AI is everywhere,” and CES made that more than evident. Various industries, including agriculture, safety or public health to name a few, are benefiting from growing AI, he said, but any application of the technology — while full of opportunity — is also marked with risk, he said.
Much of AI is the culmination of work and effort done by individuals over a long period of time, he said, so another necessary conversation is how to compensate or protect people’s creations, from the data of technical manuals to groundbreaking novels harvested for the sake of AI.
“As this all dovetails at the same time, we policymakers are behind the eight ball,” said Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo. “We’re never in front of this. We’re always just trying to learn and catch up to how these innovations can work together to actually help protect data privacy, as opposed to inhibiting data privacy.”
Efforts around data privacy will be futile, however, if the U.S. is not leading the technological revolution and investing in it to get maximum return and protection against the risks, said Hickenlooper, who chairs the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security.
“COVID really showed us what the importance of supply chains is, and we have to make sure that we have supply chains that we can trust and rely on,” Hickenlooper said. “And I think this is a big part of just what science is about — is making sure that we are creating a network and a system that we can trust.”
This means the U.S. must regain its manufacturing capability and be a leader in the creation of computer chips, he said, a major goal of the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act.
“It’s a global competition,” Hickenlooper said. “Our rivals, our adversaries, are going after the same things we’re going after — and it’s not just GPS, it’s not just cars and health care. But also, more and more rapidly, and we see it now already, where somebody in a room thousands and thousands of miles away is directing battles, without soldiers on the field.”
The growth of AI and other technologies also demands a stronger workforce in the tech sector to support it, which Lummis said required better access to housing, internships and other training opportunities, as well as widespread, affordable broadband access.
“If we don’t make this investment in the infrastructure of our workforce,” Rosen agreed, “we won’t be able to have the innovation.”
CES almost always shows off the latest technological developments in the automotive industry, and policymakers during Friday’s panel also discussed the importance of installing technology in vehicles to prevent and dramatically reduce traffic accidents overall, but particularly those caused by impaired driving.
Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., who noted that he survived a head-on crash with a drunk driver in the 1990s, pointed to legislation aimed at encouraging and inspiring the market to do more, and he thanked the companies that have already taken strides toward guaranteeing road safety.
“You have the engineers, the smarts, the capability and the willingness and investment right now,” he said. “Let’s come together and make this happen.”
None of the issues discussed during the panel are partisan, Rosen said toward the end of the session, but rather issues that affect families, security, health care and the future of Americans overall. The Senate is actively working to pass legislation that will invest in the country and its infrastructure to ensure platforms for success, the Nevada senator said.
“Thank you for what you’re doing,” Rosen told the CES audience. “Thank you for your imagination and your innovation and your commitment to dream, because that’s what all of this is.”
