Digital Spirts

Last week Roll Call reported  “A handful of lawmakers say they plan to press the issue of the threat to humans posed by generative artificial intelligence after a recent bipartisan Senate report largely sidestepped the matter.”1 Specifically, Senators Mitt Romney (R-N.M.), Jack Reed, (D-R.I.), Jerry Moran ( R-Kan.), and Angus King, (I-Maine), joined by a handful of reps on the House side, have begun active calls for Congress to take AI risk seriously.

Trying to chart a path forward, the legislators have published a “Framework For Mitigating Extreme AI Risks.” In brief this framework proposes that developers of models trained on an “enormous amount of computing power” and are “broadly capable; general-purpose  and able to complete  a variety of downstream tasks; or are intended to be used for bioengineering, chemical engineering, cybersecurity, or nuclear development” must:

1.    Implement so called ‘Know your customer requirements,’ that is vet, know, and report customers, especially foreign persons.

2.    Notify an “oversight entity” when developing a highly capable model while also incorporating certain safeguards and cybersecurity standards into development.

3.    Go through evaluation and obtain a license prior to release to try and prevent models from yielding “bioengineering, chemical engineering, cybersecurity, or nuclear development” risks. License acess would be tiered according to perceived risk levels.

The framework also proposes the creation of a new agency, or investiture of new powers in an exsisting agency or council, to implement these regulations.