Why the Time is Ripe for a Federal Study Commission on AI

The FUTURE of AI Act, introduced by Senators Cantwell (D-WA) and Young (R-IN) and Representatives Olson (R-TX) and Delaney (D-MD), would establish a Federal study commission on artificial intelligence. Yesterday, BSA | The Software Alliance, of which Workday is a member, sent a letter in support of the Act. I wanted to set out a few thoughts about why the Act is needed and how its enactment would help in the development of rules and guidelines for use of AI.

It’s still early days for artificial intelligence (AI), and all of us are still working to understand its implications.  But, as with any new transformative technology like AI or big data analytics, we know that there will be a broader societal impact.  In the case of AI, those changes will lead to lots of benefits. For example, AI can deliver new insights that weren’t possible before, ranging from things like energy usage to accident causation to agricultural patterns, that can be acted on to improve living conditions.  In the work realm, AI will help reduce repetitive drudgery tasks, allowing people to do more interesting work and creating new roles with increased value added.

Even as these benefits are realized, though, AI will drive broader societal changes.  That’s why the FUTURE of AI Act, in addition to studying how the U.S. can be a leader in AI development, also looks at its impact on workforce displacement and personal privacy.  As we saw with the railroad, the automobile, and the Internet, as new technologies are adopted, it is vital to understand their impact. With that insight, together we can develop rules and guidelines to help ensure that the  technology is deployed and used in ways that benefit society. Put another way, technology is not an inexorable force whose impact is predetermined and inevitable.

Today we are at an early stage, and regulation is premature, but what’s not premature is to anticipate the day when rules will be needed.  By creating a broad-based study commission, the FUTURE of AI Act will ensure that all aspects of AI are considered—from machine learning to big data analytics and automation—along with differences in how they are used in the enterprise and consumer contexts.  That way, when policymakers turn to the rules of the road, they won’t be regulating based on isolated anecdotes, with unintended consequences, but on information that provides a full picture of the benefits of AI, its societal impact, and what rules might help realize our shared vision of the future.  The commission proposed by the FUTURE of AI Act is a necessary first step on this path.