Three things to know about how the US Congress might regulate AI

• The US is home to Silicon Valley and prides itself on protecting innovation. Many of the biggest AI companies are American companies, and Congress isn’t going to let you, or the EU, forget that! Schumer called innovation the “north star” of US AI strategy, meaning regulators will probably be calling on tech CEOs to ask how they’d like to be regulated. It’s going to be interesting watching the tech lobby at work here. Some of this language arose in response to the latest regulations from the European Union, which some tech companies and critics say will stifle innovation. 
• Technology, and AI in particular, ought to be aligned with “democratic values.” We’re hearing this from top officials like Schumer and President Biden. The subtext here is the narrative that US AI companies are different from Chinese AI companies. (New guidelines in China mandate that outputs of generative AI must reflect “communist values.”) The US is going to try to package its AI regulation in a way that maintains the existing advantage over the Chinese tech industry, while also ramping up its production and control of the chips that power AI systems and continuing its escalating trade war. 
• One big question: what happens to Section 230. A giant unanswered question for AI regulation in the US is whether we will or won’t see Section 230 reform. Section 230 is a 1990s internet law in the US that shields tech companies from being sued over the content on their platforms. But should tech companies have that same ‘get out of jail free’ pass for AI-generated content? This is a big question, and it would require that tech companies identify and label AI-made text and images, which is a massive undertaking. Given that the Supreme Court recently declined to rule on Section 230, the debate has likely been pushed back down to Congress. Whenever legislators decide if and how the law should be reformed, it could have a huge impact on the AI landscape.