AI & Tech Brief from The Washington Post – Online Newsletter

 Benjamin Guggenheim 	  	
By Benjamin Guggenheim

    ** In an exclusive interview, Rep. Sam Liccardo, who represents parts of Silicon Valley, tells me Congress is incapable of regulating AI and shares his idea for bridging the gap.
    ** World leaders are building out their own “sovereign AI” infrastructure to reduce dependence on U.S. and Chinese infrastructure. We dive into what that means for businesses.
    **As the war in Iran intensifies, American businesses need to assume they could be in the crosshairs of Iran’s highly aggressive and opportunistic cyberattack campaigns.


This is Benjamin Guggenheim. Welcome to WP Intelligence’s AI & Tech brief, where we examine the transformative technology of artificial intelligence at the intersection of innovation, policy and power. We’ll tell you how AI is reshaping the foundations of business, work and global competitiveness — and the policies and regulations that will determine who wins the next wave of innovation. Get in touch at Benjamin.Guggenheim@washpost.com or on Signal at ben_guggenheim. 88.

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The Lead Brief

AI moves exponentially; Congress moves glacially.

Even though the White House and House GOP are currently preparing a third push to block state AI laws — as we previewed in our first edition of the AI & Tech Brief — Congress hasn’t come close to getting any substantive federal framework on AI over the finish line.

Rep. Sam Liccardo of California’s 16th District, which includes part of Silicon Valley, tells me Congress is incapable of meaningfully regulating AI. Instead, the lawmaker wants to get Congress out of the way altogether — and create an independent body of experts to promulgate AI standards.

“I believe that the most productive pathway for us is to try to identify a body that could consist of folks who are appointed in a bipartisan manner … that could enable us to have standards that would not require congressional intervention,” Liccardo told me in an interview in his Capitol Hill office.

“Based on our progress in reforming section 230, we should get around to it in the next couple decades,” Liccardo quipped, referring to long-stalled efforts to reform social media laws. Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-California) represents major Silicon Valley technology hubs like Mountain View and Palo Alto (Photo by Annabelle Gordon For The Washington Post). (Annabelle Gordon/For The Washington Post)

Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-California) represents major Silicon Valley technology hubs like Mountain View and Palo Alto (Photo by Annabelle Gordon For The Washington Post). (Annabelle Gordon/For The Washington Post)

Why it matters: Congress hasn’t acted quickly when it comes to tech regulation, but the lag-time compared to innovation in AI has never been starker.

Frontier models make massive jumps in capabilities every few months. As lawmakers debate how to address AI-generated videos and chatbots, companies are already starting to deploy AI agents that complete workflows by themselves, write code and browse the internet.

In areas affecting privacy and civil rights, AI companies are also pointing out that the technology has made the laws obsolete. As part of Anthropic’s suit against the Department of War for designating the company a “supply chain risk,” its Chief Science Officer Jared Kaplan testified that legal frameworks could not have anticipated the kind of mass surveillance enabled by AI.

“Tools like Claude enable aggregation and analysis of massive datasets at unprecedented scale, potentially facilitating practices inconsistent with Americans’ rights even if they appear arguably compliant with laws written before the advent of AI,” Kaplan wrote.

What’s on the table: Liccardo tells me he’s circulating draft legislation that would allow Congress to delegate authority to regulate AI to an independent body of experts appointed in a bipartisan way.

Liccardo’s idea is to start with a committee he sits on, the House Financial Services Committee. The legislation would permit industry experts to weigh in on standards for AI deployment in housing, insurance and banking, and other policy subjects in financial services. Courts could refer to those standards to determine if a company is negligent of liable for harm to the consumer.

If companies can show they’ve achieved the best practices set out by those experts, then they could earn a preemption from the patchwork of state laws currently regulating AI technology, according to Liccardo’s proposal.

Continue/Read Original Article: AI & Tech Brief from The Washington Post