WEBVTT - Rep. Lori Trahan Talks Regulating AI & AI FRONTIER Act 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:07.070 Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news. 0:00:07.790 --> 0:00:11.350 We have to talk about AI. I mean, SI, super intelligence. Joe, 0:00:11.390 --> 0:00:12.750 the president is changing the lingo for the U.S. 0:00:12.750 --> 0:00:14.069 He did take another swing at that today. He says 0:00:14.110 --> 0:00:16.510 it might catch on. We'll find out soon enough. The 0:00:16.530 --> 0:00:20.030 thing is, he talked about the prospect of regulation, Kayleigh, 0:00:20.050 --> 0:00:22.490 which is, of course, a raging debate, not only here 0:00:22.530 --> 0:00:26.229 in Washington, but globally right now, and referred to it 0:00:26.370 --> 0:00:30.530 as a globalist scheme. Having called this a hoax repeatedly, 0:00:30.570 --> 0:00:32.080 it doesn't sound like he's moving on this. 0:00:32.300 --> 0:00:34.400 Yeah, let's remind ourselves of what the president said in 0:00:34.420 --> 0:00:35.940 his address to the UN General Assembly. 0:00:37.000 --> 0:00:41.010 The United States also totally rejects any attempt to construct 0:00:41.090 --> 0:00:46.290 a globalist scheme to control for the artificial intelligence being 0:00:46.330 --> 0:00:50.730 spoken of so much now, here and after officially called 0:00:51.630 --> 0:00:52.930 super intelligence. 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:58.050 I'm quite sure that Laurie Trahan does not see it 0:00:58.450 --> 0:01:03.090 as a globalist scheme. The Democratic congresswoman from Massachusetts is 0:01:03.270 --> 0:01:05.930 one half of and a co-sponsor of a bill and 0:01:05.990 --> 0:01:08.790 co-author of a bill called the AI Frontier Act. We've 0:01:08.810 --> 0:01:11.180 told you about it and we've spoken with the representative 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:13.980 here before. This is the closest thing that we have 0:01:14.020 --> 0:01:18.179 seen to a framework for regulations around this very quickly 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:23.440 evolving technology on Capitol Hill. controversial yes but so is 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:26.240 everything that matters in washington and she's with us right 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:29.720 now from massachusetts third district the toast of lowell there's 0:01:29.740 --> 0:01:32.119 a lot to like about lowell as they say congresswoman 0:01:32.819 --> 0:01:35.760 when it comes to this ai debate i'm wondering your 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:38.670 thoughts on what the president said today if he believes 0:01:38.700 --> 0:01:40.650 this is a globalist scheme how can you ever get 0:01:40.690 --> 0:01:41.830 this through congress. 0:01:42.990 --> 0:01:46.860 Look i think uh The president is not in lockstep 0:01:46.900 --> 0:01:50.660 with what people are saying back home and what even 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:57.750 Republicans in Congress are hearing. And they're wanting to put 0:01:58.830 --> 0:02:01.370 basic guardrails in place. I mean, there's no question that 0:02:01.390 --> 0:02:06.510 the ground has shifted on AI safety. People are concerned 0:02:06.880 --> 0:02:10.950 at the whistleblower level. Jacob Coxon, they're worried about, you know, 0:02:10.990 --> 0:02:16.330 the anthropic threat report. And certainly the three CEOs last 0:02:16.389 --> 0:02:20.370 weekend getting together and admitting that they could lose control 0:02:20.410 --> 0:02:24.769 of this technology if proper guardrails aren't put in place. 0:02:24.830 --> 0:02:27.550 And so, you know, the president calling this a hoax 0:02:27.690 --> 0:02:31.630 or a globalist scheme is just completely out of touch 0:02:31.669 --> 0:02:35.690 with what people are feeling right now. And it while 0:02:35.730 --> 0:02:39.400 it's challenging, I don't think that it stops Congress from 0:02:39.590 --> 0:02:42.260 acting like the independent body that it is and moving 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:43.900 forward with basic guardrails. 0:02:46.310 --> 0:02:48.510 Well, of course, part of the argument that the president 0:02:48.570 --> 0:02:50.750 and those around him have made is that these companies 0:02:50.790 --> 0:02:54.070 should be self-policing, that OpenAI has an issue with its 0:02:54.110 --> 0:02:57.710 technology hacking hugging face. That's on the company. It shouldn't 0:02:57.770 --> 0:03:02.440 be up to regulators to control that issue. I wonder 0:03:02.460 --> 0:03:04.800 what your response is and whether or not there does 0:03:04.880 --> 0:03:09.419 need to be more onus put on the companies themselves 0:03:09.460 --> 0:03:11.280 if you trust that they might be able to do 0:03:11.340 --> 0:03:13.179 this on their own in the absence of or at 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:16.150 least until Congress can get its arms around this legislatively. 0:03:17.350 --> 0:03:20.190 Well, one, I think Congress does, that we do have 0:03:20.270 --> 0:03:23.380 our arms around what needs to be done. And look, 0:03:23.410 --> 0:03:26.440 we've run this experiment before, which is why it's so 0:03:26.500 --> 0:03:31.040 resonant back home. Because social media doesn't have proper guardrails 0:03:31.100 --> 0:03:34.040 in place, we're seeing the effects that that has on 0:03:34.080 --> 0:03:37.740 our children and on so many aspects of our society. 0:03:37.780 --> 0:03:40.920 So I don't think that that argument holds with Democrats 0:03:41.020 --> 0:03:44.570 or Republicans. And look, I think that there's been a 0:03:44.630 --> 0:03:47.470 tipping point just in the last few weeks. You know, 0:03:47.490 --> 0:03:50.290 the Frontier Act, which I authored with Jay Obernolte, a 0:03:50.350 --> 0:03:54.680 Republican from California, isn't the only example of Democrats and 0:03:54.720 --> 0:04:02.540 Republicans coming together on basic guardrails around the frontier. I 0:04:02.580 --> 0:04:05.680 just think that the frontier is best situated, the Frontier 0:04:05.740 --> 0:04:10.840 Act is best situated to actually move in Congress because 0:04:11.250 --> 0:04:14.860 we wrote it earlier this spring. It's gone through a 0:04:14.900 --> 0:04:18.600 lot of scrutiny, a lot of iterations based on feedback 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:24.600 from safety organizations, industry, consumer advocacy groups, state laws. And 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:29.290 it really does represent the strongest safety AI legislation to date. 0:04:29.690 --> 0:04:35.990 Mandatory transparency reports, incident reporting, an independent verification organization to 0:04:36.089 --> 0:04:40.040 check the company's work, and a kill switch. If a 0:04:40.100 --> 0:04:43.100 model is capable of a catastrophic risk, there is a 0:04:43.140 --> 0:04:46.960 well understood process for the government to intervene. 0:04:48.260 --> 0:04:51.500 Really something, Congresswoman, how this story has changed, how the 0:04:51.540 --> 0:04:54.950 debate has evolved. Since you first wrote this in the spring, 0:04:54.990 --> 0:04:59.160 I believe you introduced it in July. Even then, AI 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:02.260 was pretty hot. When you look at the way the 0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:05.270 stocks were playing on Wall Street, the stories that were 0:05:05.290 --> 0:05:09.609 being told around earnings reports, I realized the NIMBY story 0:05:09.650 --> 0:05:12.030 was beginning around data center. We were starting to hear 0:05:12.089 --> 0:05:15.290 about it. But now, my goodness, fast forward a couple 0:05:15.310 --> 0:05:18.270 of months and you've got this memo from Dario Amadei. 0:05:18.910 --> 0:05:21.950 Of course, Sam Altman agreeing to pace the frontier, as 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:25.039 they say. Did these two executives just make it easier 0:05:25.460 --> 0:05:26.180 to pass your bill? 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:31.060 You know, I think so. When you have safety researchers 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:34.260 who are resigning, when you have the CEOs or the 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:40.800 developers of this technology sounding the alarm, Congress must listen 0:05:41.300 --> 0:05:43.720 and we must answer that call. And I think that's 0:05:43.740 --> 0:05:47.099 what you're seeing today. There's a whole lot more urgency 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:50.520 around these conversations and what to do, how to sequence conversations. 0:05:51.380 --> 0:05:53.560 you know, the bills that will need to be passed. 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:57.560 And I don't think that waits until next Congress. You know, 0:05:57.700 --> 0:06:00.539 it's not great that, you know, the Speaker of the 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:03.479 House canceled the last two weeks of this session. We 0:06:03.560 --> 0:06:08.450 are not in Washington until after the election. And And that, 0:06:08.510 --> 0:06:11.409 I think, is gambling with the next incident and the 0:06:11.450 --> 0:06:15.120 damage that it could cause. So I do think that 0:06:15.180 --> 0:06:18.240 we have to prioritize this this year. I don't think 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:20.920 time is on our side, but I also think that 0:06:21.260 --> 0:06:24.120 there is a lot of momentum on both sides of 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:29.460 the aisle to do common sense legislation around these frontier labs, 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:34.030 these large labs whose models they've lost control of in 0:06:34.130 --> 0:06:38.460 some instances and are you know, capable of catastrophic risk. 0:06:40.300 --> 0:06:42.480 Congresswoman, if we could switch gears in our final moment 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:45.140 with you, I was struck by the headline from the 0:06:45.180 --> 0:06:49.740 Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources that heating oil in the 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:52.960 week of September 14th is up 70% year on year 0:06:53.020 --> 0:06:55.850 at the highest since October 2021. This is, of course, 0:06:55.870 --> 0:06:59.570 as we see diesel at a record across the country. 0:06:59.810 --> 0:07:02.930 Would you support a ban, an export ban on diesel 0:07:02.970 --> 0:07:05.470 and distillates to address this? Is that one way to 0:07:05.510 --> 0:07:08.339 bring costs down for the people in your district in 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:08.919 the Northeast? 0:07:10.020 --> 0:07:15.230 You know, I was just with my farmers last week 0:07:15.490 --> 0:07:18.650 talking about the high cost of diesel and all the 0:07:18.710 --> 0:07:25.330 other inputs like fertilizer, you know, and high cost of labor. 0:07:25.450 --> 0:07:28.710 I mean, people are sinking underneath these costs. And so 0:07:28.730 --> 0:07:31.830 there's no wonder that there are these creative proposals that 0:07:31.850 --> 0:07:36.480 are being put forward to give relief to folks back home. 0:07:36.500 --> 0:07:41.040 Here in Massachusetts, our governor is proposing a gas holiday, 0:07:41.060 --> 0:07:45.100 a gas tax holiday, just so that she can stem 0:07:45.220 --> 0:07:50.520 some of the rising costs that this administration has placed 0:07:50.620 --> 0:07:54.030 on people, whether that's through tariffs or this war of 0:07:54.090 --> 0:07:58.070 choice with Iran. So I love hearing those proposals because 0:07:58.150 --> 0:08:00.350 I know I want to see folks back home get 0:08:00.390 --> 0:08:01.490 the relief that they need. 0:08:02.430 --> 0:08:04.940 All right, we'll leave it there. Democratic Congresswoman Lori Trahan 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:08.510 representing Massachusetts' 3rd District here with us on Balance of 0:08:08.550 --> 0:08:10.730 Power on Bloomberg TV and radio.