Google is about to release a new artificial intelligence (AI) model they are calling Gemini 4 Argon. The rise of an ever-increasing number of these products has caused concern across the political spectrum, and now Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) are forming an unlikely alliance, proposing a bill to make AI companies legally liable for any hacking incidents. Also, recently OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, according to Sen. Hawley, declined to appear before the Senate to discuss a recent hacking incident.
It's all adding up to a big liability fight. While the debate has already started, work on the bill is reportedly underway.
In a stance that puts him at odds with much of his party and the White House, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., used a Senate hearing on Wednesday to call for new artificial intelligence regulations, including through his own upcoming legislation that would clarify liability for “rogue” AI hacking incidents.
At the hearing on national security risks from those attacks held by the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee’s Disaster Management, District of Columbia and Census Subcommittee, which he chairs, Hawley asked lawmakers to focus on how AI firms can be held accountable for the actions of their agents.
“At the end of the day, they’re a product, and if you make that product in a reckless kind of way, and that product causes … significant harm and damage — they crash a hospital ER, they shut down a bank so that folks can’t get their money — if that happens, then it’s the people who made it who should be responsible,” Hawley said.
This seems, again, a way of blaming the sword for the hand that wields it, and as the RollCall piece notes, in this Sen. Hawley is running contrary to the Trump administration and many congressional Republicans.
Case in point: The cybersecurity company Proofpoint has recently released a report documenting the activities of a group of hackers they are calling TA419, who are running phishing attempts by impersonating Trump administration officials. We're right to be concerned by these efforts, but the blame lands squarely on the TA419 hackers — who, unfortunately, are in (surprise) China. It's China that is on the minds of not only the administration, but also many of Sen. Hawley's GOP colleagues.
Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., repeatedly said that “the Chinese Communist Party wants to destroy our way of life” and added that “we’ve got to continue to be competitive with AI.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, emphasized uses for “great technologies,” including in law enforcement and the military.
“Then we also have the fears that come along with that as well,” Ernst said. “But I am of this position that we must continue to innovate. We must continue to develop our capabilities. What we don’t want to do is fall behind China.”
Ay, that's the rub.
It seems too soon to be slamming heavy liability penalties on these companies; that would have a chilling effect on the development of a technology in which we are currently in a sort of cyber-arms race with our primary geopolitical rival, China. And there's a matter of principle involved: In any crime or any sort of intrusion, including hacking, the people who are liable for any repercussions are the people who commit the act. This proposal seems an awful lot like making auto manufacturers liable for losses when one of their products is used as a getaway car in a robbery.
This late in this Congress, it's not likely that any such proposal will go anywhere. But in the next Congress? Stay tuned.