Artificial Intelligence tools becoming 'unavoidable', lawmakers say

WASHINGTON (Nexstar)-- The Artificial Intelligence revolution is upon us. Emerging technologies, like chatbots, have become almost unavoidable in recent months.
But is Washington ready for this new wave of technological advancement?

South Carolina republican Nancy Mace opened Wednesday's committee hearing on the advances AI.

"While the potential applications of generative models are vast and impressive, there are also serious concerns about the ethical implications of their use," Mace said.

Shortly after, Mace told lawmakers just moments later she did not write her speech.

"Every single word up until this sentence was generated entirely by ChatGPT," she said.

Mace, along with Virginia democrat Gerry Connolly, said the popular chatbot, ChatGPT, is just one example of how AI tools are becoming unavoidable.

"We need to be looking at, sort of like a race to the moon, because if the Chinese dominate those areas, the future is theirs," Connolly said.

Dr. Eric Schmidt is with the nonprofit Special Competitive Studies Project, and he told lawmakers a failure to prioritize AI innovation could have drastic consequences.

"I view it as a national emergency," he said. "AI can be used to generate good things in biology but also lots of bad viruses. The issues of misinformation of a nation state could be very significant."

Merve Hickok, with the Center for AI and Digital Policy (CAIDP), said it is important for lawmakers to create regulations now.

"We don't have the guard rails in place," she said. "The laws that we need the public education or the expertise in the government, to manage the consequences of the rapid technological changes."

Lawmakers said they agree. With AI evolving at a rapid rate, Congress must act soon.