All 100 senators are invited to sit for a classified briefing this week on artificial intelligence and its effects on global and national security, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced in a weekend letter to colleagues.
Schumer pointed out that it will be the first session of its kind, as Congress works to get ahead of the rapidly advancing technology.
“This Tuesday we will have a classified all-senators briefing with the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community to learn how we’re using and investing in AI to protect our national security and learn what our adversaries are doing in AI,” the New York Democrat wrote on Sunday.
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“This will be the first-ever classified all-senators briefing on national security and AI,” he wrote.
Briefers will include senior members of the Defense Department including Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks, in addition to White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Arati Prabhakar, Director of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency Trey Whitworth, and Craig Martell, the Pentagon’s Chief Digital and AI Officer.
AI has become a hot topic on Capitol Hill in recent months. Concerns about falling behind other countries and what kind of regulatory barriers to impose on it has spurred a flurry of legislation and hearings across both the House and Senate.
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Schumer had announced months ago that he would work to put together a regulatory framework for AI aimed at protecting online user privacy while not stifling innovation.
He also convened a bipartisan group of four senators including himself and Sens. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Todd Young of Indiana and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico to work out a comprehensive plan on how to handle AI.
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That group set up a series of AI learning sessions, including Tuesday’s classified briefing, and Schumer promised more would be in the pipeline.
“Our job as legislators is to listen to the experts and learn as much as we can so we can translate these ideas into legislative action, with our committees continuing to serve as the key drivers. I look forward to hearing from these experts and I encourage you to attend,” Schumer wrote in his letter.
Other AI efforts in Congress include a bill to prevent AI from being able to autonomously launch a weapons attack, as well as a flurry of legislation to establish various regulatory and advisory panels on the advanced technology.
Schumer’s announcement of AI information sessions follows a similar effort by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to get the lower chamber up to speed on the sector.
Chad Pergram contributed to this report