Senate Judiciary Committee Continues Series of AI Hearings; IP Subcommittee Preps Bipartisan Legislation
Summary
On July 25, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law held a hearing to explore principles for AI regulation, featuring testimony from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. During the hearing, Amodei outlined the need to reduce AI’s short-term risks of bias, as well as longer-term risks to humanity, specifically citing the possibility that malign actors could harness AI to make it easier to produce biological weapons. He recommended US policies to secure AI supply chains, also calling for testing the most powerful AIs, which he said should be supported by government funding. A full summary of the hearing is available here. Previously in the month, the Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property convened a hearing to explore copyright issues, during which Subcommittee Chair Chris Coons (D-DE) and Ranking Member Thom Tillis (R-NC) indicated that they intend to draft legislation to safeguard intellectual property (IP) rights in the face of AI-generated content, with a stated goal of having “baseline” legislation by the end of the 118th Congress. In terms of next steps, Ranking Member Tillis outlined the need to create a work group, and the pair noted they have been working in tandem with the “Big Four,” Leader Schumer and Sens. Mike Rounds (R-SD), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Todd Young (R-IN) on including IP protections in any broader AI legislation. A full summary of the hearing is available here.
