A CEO in the industry warns of risk to biosecurity.
The Senate Judiciary Committee heard testimony this week from the chief executive of artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic, Dario Amodei. He told legislators of a near future in which AI could help unskilled people create biological weapons.
“Certain steps in bioweapons production involve knowledge that can’t be found on Google or in textbooks and requires a high level of expertise,” said Amodei, whose company worked with biosecurity experts on a study of biological risks arising from AI. “We found that today’s AI tools can fill in some of these steps.”
“By enabling many more actors to carry out large-scale biological attacks, we believe this represents a grave threat to U.S. national security,” he said.
Amodei said that AI cannot yet fill out the process accurately enough to make this an immediate problem, calling the threat a “medium-term” risk. However, subcommittee chair Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said that legislators are taking that risk seriously.
“The goal for this hearing is to lay the ground for legislation,” Senator Blumenthal said. “To go from general principles, to specific recommendations. To use this hearing to write laws.”
Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri said safeguards are needed “that will ensure this new technology is actually good for the American people.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For Senators Hawley and Blumenthal as they address AI technology through legislation.
- For members of the Senate to seek God’s guidance as they set policy around and regulations on artificial intelligence.
Sources: Reuters, WIONews
