Should the government regulate artificial intelligence? It already is

As nearly every day brings additional news about how artificial intelligence (AI) will affect the way we live, a heated debate has broken out over what the United States should do about it. On the one hand, the likes of Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking argue that we must regulate now to slow down and develop general principles governing AI's development because of its potential to cause massive economic dislocation and even destroy human civilization. On the other hand, AI advocates argue that there is no consensus on what AI is, let alone what it can ultimately do. Regulating AI in such circumstances, these advocates claim, will simply stifle innovation and cede to other countries the technological initiative that has done so much to power the U.S. economy. The intense focus on these foundational questions threatens to obscure, however, a key point: AI is already subject to regulation in many ways, and, even while the broader debates about AI continue, additional regulations look sure to follow.