Musk Discusses Artificial Intelligence With Schumer on Capitol Hill

Elon Musk Discusses AI and Electric Vehicles with Schumer

Tesla CEO Elon Musk met with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Capitol Hill on April 26 to discuss artificial intelligence (AI) and electric vehicles. Musk told reporters after the meeting that they talked about the future, AI, and the economy. Schumer also said that they had a very good meeting and talked about Buffalo, where Tesla has a large plant, and AI.

Schumer’s Plan for AI Regulation

On April 13, Schumer announced a plan to establish rules for AI to address national security and education concerns, considering the rising popularity of programs like ChatGPT. His proposal would require companies to allow independent experts to review and test AI technologies prior to their public release or update and gives users access to those results. Musk applauded the senator’s announcement on Twitter, calling it a “first-of-its-kind” effort on AI.

Musk’s Concerns about AI

Musk has been raising the alarm about risks associated with AI. In March, he joined over 1,000 experts in signing an open letter calling on all AI labs to “immediately pause” developing systems more powerful than OpenAI’s Chat GPT-4. Last week, in an interview with FOX, Musk warned that AI has the potential to destroy civilizations. He explained that existing AI technologies are trained to be politically correct and announced he will launch an AI platform called Truth GPT, a Chat GPT alternative that behaves as a “maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe.”

Warner’s Call for AI Security

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner (D-Va.) sent CEOs of several AI companies a letter, asking them to take steps to address the risks of AI. With the increasing use of AI across large swaths of our economy, and the possibility for large language models to be steadily integrated into a range of existing systems, from healthcare to finance, Warner called on AI companies to prioritize security and prevent malicious misuse.