A narrow measure offered by Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) Wednesday that would’ve forced artificial intelligence companies to build a “kill switch” to prevent their advanced models from going rogue was shot down by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).
The episode marked the latest instance of Congress trying and failing to advance AI legislation amid a growing debate over whether, if at all, to regulate the technology that industry leaders warn may pose doomsday threats to humanity.
Kennedy offered his bill via unanimous consent, a request that can be blocked by any one of his 99 colleagues.
“I’m not standing here today suggesting to you I have all the answers,” Kennedy said on the Senate floor. “What I am suggesting to you is there are risks to artificial intelligence.”
Paul, a libertarian who advocates limited government, objected over concerns that such a move would be acting “hastily” and could prematurely stifle innovation before Congress has a better understanding of the technology.
“Are they going to have to redesign all search engines immediately if this passes and put kill switches in your search engine?” Paul, an ophthalmologist by trade, said during a brief floor debate. “Are doctors going to have to build a kill switch into drug prescription analysis?”
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Kennedy rebuffed an amendment offered by Paul to create a bipartisan panel to more closely analyze potential AI safeguards. He accused Paul of trying to take the “weenie way out” of killing his motion.
“Maybe we ought to let Leonardo DiCaprio chair the darn thing,” a sarcastic Kennedy responded. “My mama didn’t raise a fool, and if she did, it was one of my brothers.”