Senate warned of 'perfect storm' leading to emerging AI disaster: 'Democracy itself is threatened'

Senators on Tuesday got the green light to impose significant federal regulation on artificial intelligence systems, not just from two industry giants, but from an AI expert who warned that the fate of the nation may depend on tough AI rules from Congress. A Senate Judiciary subcommittee heard from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and IBM Chief Privacy & Trust Officer Christina Montgomery, who both invited federal oversight of AI even though they split on whether a new federal agency is needed. In between those witnesses sat Gary Marcus, the New York University professor emeritus and leader of Uber's AI labs from 2016 to 2017, who issued a stark warning that human life is about to be upended by this unpredictable technology. "They can and will create persuasive lies at a scale humanity has never seen before," Marcus warned of generative AI systems. "Outsiders will use them to affect our elections, insiders to manipulate our markets and our political systems. Marcus warned that AI systems that do severe damage to humans' trust in each other have already been released and that the damage is already mounting. Gary Marcus, professor emeritus at New York University, speaks during a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, May 16, 2023. "A law professor, for example, was accused by a chatbot of sexual harassment.