One of the leading universities in the United States is offering extensive training for congressional staffers on artificial intelligence as the legislature is debating regulations on the technology.
The Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence will be hosting a "Congressional Boot Camp on AI" next week in California. The program will provide a crash course of information on the new technology and its implications for all parts of the federal government. These will include lectures on AI's relevance to privacy, international security, work, bias, privacy, and other technology.
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Educating Congress on AI has taken on urgency in recent weeks. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is pushing an extensive program to educate his colleagues on the technology.
"We're exposing staffers to a multidisciplinary approach to how artificial intelligence affects every part of the government and our lives," Stanford Institute Director of Policy Russell Ward told the Washington Examiner.
The boot camp saw a 40% surge in applications, Ward said. Stanford had to expand the number of attendees from 24 to 28 due to the increased interest while also ensuring the training quality remained as high as ever.
The boot camp is not the first of these programs, however. Ward noted that the university has hosted a number of similar programs since 2014 to provide tools to Congress through a multidisciplinary approach to the technology. He emphasized that it would not just be lectures but would include a chance to understand the different aspects of how AI technology affects normal life.
The attendees will include staffers for Sens. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Rick Scott (R-FL), Ward said, as well as several committees. There are not any attendees from Schumer's office or any of the senators whom he has worked with on his framework plans.
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Schumer plans to host a series of "AI insight forums" in August that will bring experts on the industry in to speak on a variety of relevant subjects, including copyright, national security, transparency, and elections.
While these educational events show a clear bipartisan interest in regulating the technology, the people working directly with Schumer on the matter are uncertain that it will amount to anything. “We’re probably not going to have to ban a bunch of things that aren’t currently banned. We’re not going to have to pass a lot of major legislation to deal with new threats,” Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) told Politico. Young emphasized the empowerment of established agencies with the ability to regulate the technology instead.