Leave A.I. Alone

December was a big month for advocates of regulating artificial intelligence. First, a bipartisan group of senators and representatives introduced the Future of A.I. Act, the first federal bill solely focused on A.I. It would create an advisory committee to make recommendations about A.I. -- on topics including the technology's effect on the American work force and strategies to protect the privacy rights of those it impacts. Then the New York City Council approved a first-of-its-kind bill that once signed into law will create a task force to examine its own use of automated decision systems, with the ultimate goal of making its use of algorithms fairer and more transparent. Perhaps not coincidentally, these efforts also overlap with increasing calls to regulate artificial intelligence along with claims by the likes of Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking that it poses a threat to humanity's literal survival.