Congressional hearings an other important events throughout the day. Weekdays at 5 00 p. M. And 9 00 p. M. Eastern check with the washington today for a fastpaced report on story os they have day. Tell your smart speaker, play cspan radio. Cspan, powered by cable. Open a. I. C. E. O. Sam altman whose Company Created chatgpt was one of three experts to testify on oversthiefght swiftly developing technology as a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing mr. Altman stated that a. I. Could, quote, cause significant harm to the world. Heres the rest of that hearing. Welcome to the hearing of the privacy, technology, and the law subcommittee. I thank my partner in this effort, senator holly, Ranking Member, and senator durbin, he will be speaking shortly. This hearing is on the oversight of Artificial Intelligence, the first in a series of hearings intended to write the rules of a. I. Our goal is to demystify and hold accountable those new technologies to avoid some of the mistakes of the past. And now for some introductory remarks. Too often we have seen what happens when Technology Outpaces regulation. The unbridled exploitation of data. The deepening of societal inequalities. We have seen how algo rhythmic biases can per pitch wait discrimination and prejudice and how the lk of transparency can undermine public trust. This is not the future we want. If you were listening from home you might have thought that voice was mine and the words from me but in fact that voice was not mine, the words were not mine, and the audio was an a. I. Voice cloning software trained on my floor speeches. The remarks were written by chatgpt when it was asked how i would open this hearing. And you heard just now the result. I asked chatgpt why did you pick those themes and that content and it answered, and im quoting, blumenthal has a strong record in advocating for Consumer Protection and civil rights, he has been vocal about issues such as data privacy, and the potential for discrimination in algorithmic decision making. Mr. Altman, i appreciate chatgpts endorsement. In all seriousness, this apparent reasoning is pretty impressive. I am sure that well look back in a decade and view chatgpt and gpt4 like the first cell phones, those big, clunky things we used to carry around. But we recognize that we are on the verge, really, of a new era. The audio and my playing it may strike you as curious or humorous, but what reverberated in my mind was, what if i had asked it and what if it had provided and endorsement of ukraine surrendering, or putins leadership . 245 would have been really frightening. And the prospect is more than a little scary, to use the word, mr. Altman, you have used yourself. And i think you have been very constructive in calling attention to the pitfalls as well as the promise and thats the reason why we wanted you to be here today and we thank you and our other witnesses for joining us. For several months now, the public has been fascinated with g. P. T. And other a. I. Tools. These examples, like the homework done by chatgpt, or the articles an op edz and opeds it can write feel like novelties but the underlying advance. S of this era are more than Just Research experiments. They are no longer fantasies of science fiction. They are real and present. The promises of curing cancer, developing new understandings of physics and biology, modeling climate and weather, all very encouraging and hopeful. But we also know the potential harm. And we have seen them already. Weaponized disinformation. Housing discrimination. Impersonation fraud. Voice cloning. Deep fakes. These are the potential risks despite the other rewards. And for me, perhaps the biggest nightmare is the looming new Industrial Revolution. The displacement of millions of workers, the loss of huge numbers of jobs, the need to prepare for this new Industrial Revolution in skill training. And relocation. That may be required. And already Industry Leaders are calling attention to those challenges. To quote chatgpt, this is not necessarily the future that we want. We need to fax miez the we these to maximize the good over the bad. Congress has a choice now. We have the same had the same choice when we faced social media. We failed to seize that moment. The result is predders on the internet, toxic content, exploiting children career ating dangers for them. And senator blackburn and i and others like senator durbin on the Judiciary Committee are trying to deal with it. The kids Online Safety act. But congress failed to meet the moment on social media. Now we have the obligation todo it on a. I. Before the threat and the risk becomes real. Sensible safeguards are not in opposition to innovation. Accountability is not a burden. Far from it. They are the foundation of how we can move ahead while protecting public trust. They are how we can lead the world in technology and science. But also in promoting our Democratic Values. Otherwise in the absence of that trust, i think we may well lose both. These are sophisticated technologies but there are basic expectations common in our laws. We can start with transparency. A. I. Companies ought to be required to test their system, disclose known risk, and allow w independent researcher access. We can establish scorecards and nutrition labels to encourage competition based on safety and trustworthiness. Limitations on use. There are places where the risk of a. I. Is so extreme that we ought to impose restrictions or even ban their use. Especially when it comes to commercial invasions of privacy for profit and decisions that affect peoples livelihoods. And of course accountability or liability. When ad companies and their clients cause harm they should be held liable. We should not repeat our past mistakes. For example, section 230. Forcing companies to think ahead and be responsible for the rm fay cases of their Business Decisions can be the most powerful tool of all. Garbage in, garbage out, the principle still applies. We ought to be we ought to beware of the garbage. Whether its going into these platforms or coming out of them. And the ideas that we develop in this hearing, i think, will provide a solid path forward. I look forward to discussing them with you today and i will just finish on this note. The a. I. Industry doesnt have to wait for congress. I hope their ideas and feedback from this discussion and from the industry and voluntary action shuch as weve seen lacking in many social media platforms and the consequences have been huge. So im hoping that we will elevate, rather than having a race to the bottom. And i think these hearings will be an important part of this conversation. This one is only the first. The Ranking Member and i have agreed there should be more and were going to invite other Industry Leaders. Some have committed to come. Expert, academics, and the public. We hope will participate. And with that, i will turn to the Ranking Member, senator law lee. Senator sen. Hawley thank you vy much. Thanks to the witnesses for being here. I appreciate some of you had long journeys to be here. Thank you for taking the time. I look forward to your testimony. I want to thank senator blumenthal for convening this hearing, being a leader on this topic. A year ago we couldnt have had this hearing because the technology were talking about had not burst into public consciousness. That gives us a sense, i think, of just how rapidly this technology that were talking about today is changing and evolving and transforming our world right before our very eyes. I was talking with someone just last night, a researcher in the field of psychiatry, who is pointing out to me that the chatgpt and genretific a. I. , these Large Language Models, its like the invention of the internet in scale. At least. And potentially far more significant than that. We could be looking at one of the most significant Technological Innovations in human history. And i think my question is, what kind of an innovation is it going to be . Is it going to be like the Printing Press that diffused knowledge and power and learning widely across the lands escape, that empowers ordinary, everyday individuals that led to greater flourishing, that led above all to greater liberty . Or is it going to be more like the atom bomb . Huge technological break through, but the consequences, severe, terrible, continue to haunt us to this day. I dont know the answer to that question. I dont think any of us in the room know the answer to that question because i think the answer has not yet been written. To a certain extent its up to us here and to us as the American People to write the answer. What kinds of technology will this be . How will we use it to better our lives . How will we use it to actually harness the power of technological innovation for the good of the American People . For the liberty of the American People. Not for the power of the few. You know, i was reminded of the psychologist and writer, carl young, who said, at the beginning of the last century, that our ability for technological innovation, our capacity for technological revolution had far outpaced our ethical and moral ability to apply andujar nehls the technology and harness the technology that we developed. That was a century ago. I think the story of the 20th century largely bother him out and bore him out and what will we say when we look back at this moment, about these language models and about the host of other a. I. Capacities that are even right now under development, not just in this country, but in china, the countries of our adversaries and all around the world. I think the question that young posed is really the question that faces us. Will we strike that balance between technological innovation and our ethical and moral responsibility to humanity, to liberty, to the freedom of this country . And i hope that todays hearing will take us a step closer to that answer. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Sen. Blumenthal thanks. Im going to turn to the chairman of the Judiciary Committee and the Ranking Member, senator graham. Sen. Graham yes, mr. Chairman. Thank you very much and senator hawley as well. Last weekend this committee, full committee, Senate Judiciary committee, we dealt with an issue that had been waiting for attention for almost two decades and that is what to do with the social media when it comes to the abuse of children. We had four bills initially that were considered by this committee and what may be history in the making, we passed all four bills with unanimous roll calls. Sen. Durbin unanimous roll calls. I cant remember another time when weve done that. On an issue that important. Its an indication, i think, of the important position of this committee and the National Debate on issues that affect every Single Family and affect our future in a profound way. 1989 was a historic watershed year in america because thats when seinfeld arrived. And we had a sitcom which was supposedly about little or nothing, which turned out to be enduring. I like to watch it, obviously, and i always marvel whether she show the when show the phones they used in 1989 and compared to those we carry around in our pockets today, its a dramatic change. I guess the question when i look at that is does this change in phone technology that we witnessed through this sitcom, really, exemplify a profound change in america . Still unanswered. But the basic question we face is whether or not the issue of a. I. Is a quantitative change in technology or a equal tative change or a qualitative change. The suggestions ive heard from experts in the field suggest its equal tative. Is qualitative. Is a. I. Fundamentally different . Is it a game changeer . Is it so disruptive that we need to treat it differently than other forms of innovation . Thats the starting point. And the second starting point is when you look at the record of congress in dealing with innovation, were not designed for that. In fact, the senate is designed for the opposite. Ive heard of the potential, the positive potential of a. I. And it is enormous. You can go through lists of the deployment of technology to say that an idea, you can sketch it on a website, for a website on a napkin, can generate functioning code, pharmaceutical companies could use the technology to identify new candidates to treat disease, the list goes on and on. And then of course the danger and its profound as well. So im glad that this hearing is taking place. I think its important for all of us to participate. Im glad that its a bipartisan approach. Were going to have to scramble to keep up the pace of innovation in terms of our government public response to it but this is a great start. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Sen. Blumenthal thanks, senator durbin. It is very much a bipartisan approach. Very deeply and broadly bipartisan. And in that spirit im going to turn to my friend, senator graham. [indiscernible] sen. Blumenthal thank you. That was not written by a. I. , for sure. [laughter] let me introduce now the witnesses. Were very grateful for you being here. Sam altman is the cofounder and c. E. O. Of openai, the a. I. Research and Deployment Company behind chatgpt and dalle. Mr. Altman was president of the early stage Startup Accelerator from 2014 to 2019. Openai was founded in 2015. Christina montgomery is i. B. M. s Vice President and chief privacy and trust officer, overseeing the companys Global Privacy Program policies, compliance and strategy. She also chairs i. B. M. s a. I. Ethics board, a Multidisciplinary Team responsible for the governance of a. I. And emerging technology. Christina has served in various roles at i. B. M. , including corporate secretary to the companys board of directors. Shes a Global Leader in a. I. Ethics and government and ms. Montgomery is also a member of the United States chamber of commerce a. I. Commission and the United States national a. I. Advisory committee. Which was established in 2022 to advise the president and the national a. I. Initiative office on a range of topics related to a. I. Gary marcus is a leading voice in Artificial Intelligence. Hes a scientist, best selling author and entrepreneur. Founder of the robust a. I. And geometric a. I. Acquired by uber, if im not mistaken. And emeritus professor of psychology and new orleans science at n. Y. U. Mr. Marcus is well known for his challenges to contemporary a. I. , anticipating many of the current limitations decades in advance and for his research in human language, development and cognitive neuroscience. Thank you for being here and as you may know, our custom on the Judiciary Committee is to swear in our witnesses before they testify. So if you would all please rise and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony that you are going to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god . Thank you. Mr. Altman, were going to begin with you, if thats ok. Mr. Altman thank you. Thank you, chairman blumenthal, Ranking Member hawley, members of the Judiciary Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today about this. Its really an honor to be here. My name is sam altman. Im the chief executive officer of openai. Openai was founded on the belief that Artificial Intelligence has the potential to improve nearly every aspect of our lives. But also that it creates serious risks we have to Work Together to manage. Were here because people love this technology, we think it can be a Printing Press moment. We have to Work Together to make it so. Openai is an unusual company. And we set it up that way because a. I. Is an unusual technology. We are governed by a nonprofit and our activities are driven by our mission and our charter. Which commit us to working to ensure that the broad distribution of the benefits of a. I. And to maximize in the safety of a. I. Systems. We are working to build tools that one day can help us make new discoveries and address some of humanitys Biggest Challenges like Climate Change and curing cancer. Our current systems arent yet capable of doing these things, but it has been immensely gratifying to watch many people around the world get so much value from what these systems can already do today. We love seeing people use our tools to create, to learn, to be more productive. Were very optimistic that theyre going to be fantastic jobs in the future and current jobs can get much better. We also love seeing what developers are doing to improve lives. For example, be my eyes used our new technology in gpt4 to help visually impaired people navigate their environment. We believe the benefits of the tools we have deployed so far vastly outweigh the risks but ensuring their safety is vital to our work. And we make significant efforts to ensure that safety is built into our systems at all levels. Before releasing any new system, openai conducts expensive testing extensive testing, engages external experts, improves the models behavior. Before we release gpt4, our latest model, we spent over six months conducting ex tensive evaluations, external red teaming and dangerous capability testing. We are proud of the progress that we made, gpt4 is more likely to respond he