Surely our creaking gerontocracy is well-equipped to respond to a technology as novel, disruptive, and rapidly evolving as AI, right?
Well, we hate to burst anyone’s bubble, but a new piece from Politico makes it sure sound like that Congress is completely stumped by how to tackle AI, with over a dozen lawmakers and congressional aides venting to the newspaper about the lack of urgency on the Hill over regulating the tech. Many questioned whether elected representatives fully grasp, or are even capable of grasping, the technology they’re dealing with.
“There is a percentage of my colleagues who are still trying to spell AI,” representative Sam Liccardo (D-CA) told Politico. “We need to dramatically increase the base knowledge of Congress if we’re going to legislate meaningfully,” he added. “And I know that is not going to happen overnight.”
Liccardo likely isn’t exaggerating. Last year, a minor brouhaha erupted over Trump’s secretary of education Linda McMahon repeatedly pronouncing AI as “A1” — yes, like the steak sauce — while bloviating about how important chatbots were in the classroom.
