A congressman wanted to understand AI. So he went back to a college classroom to learn

Rapidcreek@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 355 points –
A congressman wanted to understand AI. So he went back to a college classroom to learn
apnews.com
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good for this guy for trying to learn more about the stuff he’s regulating. although i can’t help but feel concerned that “congressman wants to understand the things he’s regulating” is a headline news story. shouldn’t this be the bare minimum?

They used to have an office dedicated to this stuff.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_Technology_Assessment

Hey would you look at that.."It was defunded at the end of 1995, following the 1994 mid-term elections which led to Republican control of the Senate and the House. House Republican legislators characterized the OTA as wasteful and hostile to GOP interests."

IIRC that was spearheaded by Newt Gingrich, the OG way too fucking old congressman

he was a lot more than just too old. evil genius, really. piece of shit but he spearheded so much of what seems normal now

The whole of Congress (more or less) votes on everything they regulate. There are lots of different subjects in the world, although AI is definitely one of the newer ones. Being a congressman is a pretty busy job juggling time between home and Washington (plus a campaign every 2 years to keep your job). I'm really impressed he was able to squeeze this in, let alone anything else Congress may have to regulate

It sucks, but I'm not seeing a practical way to make this a common thing.