AI is everywhere! From commercials to apps, the new tech is being integrated into everyday life.
Thursday, local leaders, including Washington State Senator Patty Murray, gathered in a roundtable and raised questions about security and widespread accessibility.
The group assembled at “AI House”, a Seattle investment company with a focus on start-ups, to explore how the average person can use artificial intelligence safely and properly.
“AI House” founder Yifan Zhang said he brought the leaders together to discuss how regulation and education can make AI more accessible to regular people and temper the consequences
Senator Murray, who’s been outspoken against the Trump administration after it issued an executive order restricting states from enforcing their own AI regulations, spoke at the event, expressing her desire for change.
“People need to have a say in our government,” says the Senator, “Regular people need to have a say because it impacts every one of us.”
Murray said that while regulation on medicine and other fields has advanced, she worries that consumers may be exposed to an unregulated product when they interact with AI programs.
Speakers also said that AI regulation touches on other major issues that could affect how people live.
“The costs of building and deploying AI are very real. The technology can use quite a lot of energy,” Noah Smith, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, said at the event.
“If a company is going to benefit from AI, they should be the ones paying for the cost to build that,” Murray said.
That energy suck is part of the reason the City of Seattle passed a moratorium on building new data centers.
Smith says AI can help people advance in several areas, but it’s not a magic formula; and, how we’ll use isn’t predetermined.
“The narrative around AI often swings between two extremes,” Smith said. He said that one group generally says that AI is “going to solve everything,” and another group advocates avoiding it altogether.
Smith said that instead, users should remember that how they interact with AI and choose to use it could shape the role it plays in the future.
“Technology like AI can and should protect workers,” Washington State Labor Council Secretary-Treasurer Cherika Carter said. “But it can’t replace human judgment, experience, or accountability.”
The meeting comes as Redmond-based Microsoft eliminated 4,800 jobs Monday, citing an evolving landscape.
“I want America to develop and deploy this technology,” Murray said. “But, I want it to be transparent. I want it to be safe. And, I want to make sure that the benefits og AI are there for everyone.”
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