Chuck Schumer Wants AI to Be Explainable. It's Harder Than It Sounds

Earlier this week, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer unveiled his SAFE Innovation Framework for artificial intelligence (AI), calling on Congress to take swift, decisive action. Leaders in the AI industry have been calling out for regulation. But Schumer's proposal reveals how difficult it could be in practice for policymakers to regulate a technology that even experts struggle to fully understand. The SAFE Innovation Framework has a number of policy goals: make sure AI systems are secure against cyber attacks, protect jobs, ensure accountability for those deploying AI systems, and defend U.S. democratic values, all without stifling innovation. The part of Schumer's framework which comes closest to making a concrete policy proposal, rather than setting a policy goal, is his call for explainability.