Todd Young Presses AI Experts About Benefits Created By Adoption Of AI Standards By US

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During a Senate Commerce Committee hearing last week, Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) spoke about the effect of adopting a national set of AI standards within the United States.

Transcript

00:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this important hearing on winning the AI

00:04race. It's good to see our panelists here. One of the things that I like to

00:10underscore whenever I talk about this issue is we are not just discussing a

00:16race to create jobs, not just discussing a race to figure out how to eke out more

00:23growth from our economy, although that's important. Not just trying to identify

00:30how humans can flourish more, especially Americans, through application of AI

00:36solutions to our daily lives in various ways, but this is an issue of national

00:42and economic security. I want folks at home to get that. I know all our panelists

00:46are highly conversant and knowledgeable about that. In my discussions with you

00:54and many others, I've heard we need to work with like-minded partners and allies

00:59to win this race, and it's only going to be done collectively. I've heard here

01:05today from a number of you that this race is in part about getting market share,

01:10diffusion of our AI models and in solutions into other countries. It is

01:17through that means, for me to perhaps elaborate on your thoughts, that we can

01:24see that our own values are advanced. These models presumably they'll be

01:30embedded with our values related to privacy and transparency and property

01:35rights and freedom of speech and religion. Not the values of the Chinese

01:40Communist Party on each of those various fronts. And then if we can

01:44establish digital trade rules, digital cross-border agreements on digital trade

01:50with these other countries, we could conceivably erect higher barriers to entry

01:55for models that don't come embedded with our standards. Models of say the

02:01Chinese Communist Party has given sanction to. So there's a geopolitical

02:08national security overlay to this entire conversation, which is why I think the

02:13chairman's emphasis on not overly constraining innovation or deployment is

02:19very important. But it's also why I think it's important that we be thinking about how

02:25to work with other countries in their standards development. And so that's where I want to begin

02:35asking questions. I'll start with Mr. Smith. If the United States doesn't adopt some

02:41standards through some entity, whether it's NIST or another federal entity or

02:46federally sanctioned entity, then won't other nations go ahead and feel the need to

02:53adopt their standards without any consultation with the United States?

02:58I think it's a really important point you make. And it is the lesson from the evolution of privacy

03:05law. The United States didn't adopt a national privacy law. Europe did twice. And most American

03:15companies of any size today apply across the United States work that complies with European

03:22privacy law. It's just more efficient. So I think the United States needs to be in the game.

03:28internationally to influence the rest of the world. And you cannot be in the game if you do nothing,

03:34you must do something. So you take Senator Cruz's idea, a lightweight approach. Yes. And then you build

03:41support around it. So just to unpack that, and I'll stick with Mr. Smith, with apologies to everyone

03:47else, because my time's limited. Would it be easier to shape the standards of other large economy

03:55countries that share most of our values if we already have a set of standards adopted?

04:01Generally, yes. I think we always have to be careful because if you go too soon, you go before the

04:08standards have really come together. But you've got to have some kind of model that you can show the

04:14rest of the world and win support for. And then presumably standards could be harmonized, right? They're not

04:20set in and chiseled onto a tablet, so to speak, right? No, that's indispensable. I mean, if our

04:26technology is going to go around the world, we need a set of laws or regulations that, in effect,

04:31create that basis for reciprocity and interoperability. Okay. I only have 25 seconds left.

04:39Are there any violent objections to Mr. Smith's position? Because that seems eminently reasonable

04:45to me. It seems consistent with the light-touch approach, but it also shows a certain sense of

04:51urgency that the United States needs to act. The last thing I'll say in my remaining 10 seconds

04:58is that I am planning on introducing legislation today called the AI Public Awareness and Education

05:04Campaign Act with several of my colleagues. And our aim is to have a whole-of-government approach to foster a

05:13greater awareness of AI literacy and grow STEM opportunities to create the next generation

05:19of our workforce and looking forward to moving that forward. So it will be available for public

05:26review, critique, even accolades. And Mr. Chairman, I yield back.

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