Artificial intelligence (AI) will shape the destiny of humanity, but first humanity has the opportunity to shape AI. At times, anxiety about the former causes us to overlook the latter. We forget that artificial intelligence is going to serve the goals with which we're now programming it. Its implementation will follow the standards we now have the opportunity to set. This leaves citizens -- and those representing us in government -- with an urgent responsibility.

Last month, a U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce subcommittee held a hearing on a Republican draft package of 14 bills that would allow U.S. regulators to exempt up to 100,000 vehicles a year per manufacturer from federal motor vehicle safety rules that prevent the sale of self-driving vehicles without human controls.