Hurd Wants to Keep US an AI Leader

The House Oversight Committee’s Information Technology Subcommittee held the first of three hearings on artificial intelligence Wednesday, as Chairman Will Hurd, R-Texas, begins his push to keep the U.S. a leader in developing AI. Witnesses discussed potential uses, including infrastructure defense and analytical processes, and challenges for government adoption of AI. At the second hearing, scheduled for March, officials are expected to explain how agencies are adopting AI, Hurd said, and the third, set for April, will cover private and public sector roles. “We have allies and adversaries, both nation states and individual hackers, who are pursuing artificial intelligence with all they have because dominance in artificial intelligence is a guaranteed leg up in the realm of geopolitics and economics,” Hurd said in opening remarks, saying the end goal for the three-part series is for the U.S. to clearly understand what will be needed to remain an AI leader. Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence CEO Oren Etzioni said AI is neither good nor evil. “It’s a tool. It’s a technology,” he said. Intel Vice President-Chief Technology Officer Amir Khosrowshahi said AI is “poised to create tremendous economic value while solving some of society’s most pressing challenges, but governments must mitigate unwanted impacts.”