The US Senate Wants to Reign In AI. Good Luck With That

AI is defining the future, even as many US senators struggle to understand it in the present. "It would have been better if it had been held in a room where the acoustics were better," Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, says of a much-anticipated--if overdue--All-Senators AI briefing orchestrated by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer earlier this month. The shoddy acoustics of the first of three closed-door meetings--kept private to insulate senators from electoral pressure to perform before cameras--were far from Grassley's biggest complaint. "I would say that the next [one] will be more valuable, because this was a very general overview," he says. As AI expands its foothold across industries, households, and legislative bodies--including amongst some at the Capitol itself--Congress is under pressure to act quickly, even though many lawmakers still don't know what they're being asked to regulate.