00:00I now recognize the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Harris, for five minutes.
00:06Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thanks to all of you on the panel for being a part of this
00:10hearing today.
00:11On January 23, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order titled Removing Barriers
00:17to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence, aimed at solidifying the United States' position
00:24as the global leader in AI.
00:26I, for one, applaud the Trump administration's leadership on this issue.
00:30Mr. Chilson, would you just take a moment and explain how this executive order will
00:36indeed help solidify our position as the global leader in AI, as the EO states?
00:43Well, it's a sea change from the Biden executive order, which was the third longest executive
00:49order in history, and basically set a government-wide call for agencies to figure out how to regulate
00:57AI.
00:59This Trump executive order is the opposite.
01:03It's focused on figuring out how can we create the opportunities, or how can we maximize
01:08the opportunities from this amazing technology, which is grown here in America.
01:14And so some of its mechanisms, you know, it directs the Office of Science and Technology
01:20Planning to create an AI action plan.
01:22Those comments have gone in to that agency, and I think they're going to come out with
01:27a comprehensive approach.
01:29But the main thing here is the total change in perspective.
01:32It's one from fear and risk that this technology is going to hurt people to recognizing that
01:38it has huge opportunities, not just for consumers, not just for everyday things that they use,
01:46but also, I think, in creating a lot of competition in the AI industry, but also across the economy
01:53as a whole.
01:55You referenced the science and technology policy.
01:58I know Section 4 of Trump's executive order requires various executive agencies to coordinate
02:04on the creation of an action plan to submit to the president in 180 days.
02:09And the action plan should lay out how we can achieve AI dominance.
02:14So you and your colleague, Mr. Chilson, I understand that the Abundance Institute submitted
02:19recommendations to the Office of Science and Technology Policy on what should be included
02:25in that action plan.
02:26Could you take just a moment and summarize what your recommendations might be?
02:31Right.
02:32So, at the very top, I think you've heard this concern repeatedly across this hearing,
02:40is stemming the tide, the flowing tide of state AI regulations.
02:44What we have right now is a set of regulatory schemes that regulate from the very top, the
02:52most abstract level of AI, these general purpose models.
02:56It's a general purpose technology that can be used in millions of different ways.
03:00And states are trying to say that these companies have to make sure that that model can never
03:04be used in a way that might hurt somebody.
03:07And that's the type of regulation that is not only impossible to comply with, it doesn't
03:13– it will be impossible to enforce as well.
03:15And so I think that Congress needs to look at this – look at – or the White House
03:20needs to look at different ways to stem this tide, whether through the bully pulpit or
03:24proposing legislation to Congress that will help stem that flow.
03:29I think it's a big challenge, and Congress and the White House need to step up to that.
03:35Well, let me ask you this.
03:36Can Congress play a role in helping the United States achieve the goals that have been set
03:41forth in the executive order?
03:43Absolutely.
03:44I think it will be essential that Congress does so.
03:46Okay.
03:47And are there any legislative efforts that will bring us towards the vision set forth
03:51by the Trump administration?
03:53Well, I think there's a lot of different models we could take.
03:56One state action that has been very useful – Utah has an AI act that creates a AI learning
04:02laboratory where people can come in, get regulatory mitigation when they don't understand fully
04:08what the risks are because their technology is new, and both the legislators and the company
04:14can learn together.
04:15So the most recent example of this was a technology that creates – it's an AI mental wellness
04:24app for teenagers, a really important problem.
04:28You can understand the sensitivity there.
04:30They worked with this regulatory sandbox to create not only just the app itself, but also
04:38there's been legislation that was proposed to Utah to the legislature that governed some
04:44of those types of apps.
04:45And so it's a cooperative thing.
04:47I think it's the kind of structure that might work very well at the federal level as well.
04:51Very good.
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