The government's approach to regulating AI in the U.S.

The U.S. government is considering legislation to facilitate society's adjustment to the integration of artificial intelligence. Early adopters of the technology are already experiencing productivity gains. For instance, Klarna, a buy now, pay later financial services provider, predicts that its AI assistant tool will increase its profit by $40 million by the end of 2024. According to Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski, the AI assistant tool can handle 700 full-time agents' workload and can handle two-thirds of all incoming errands over chat. Klarna's AI assistant tool is built on OpenAI's systems, which power both ChatGPT and Sora, two products that have garnered public and Congress's attention.

In 2023, Congress held discussions with tech executives, including Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, to understand the risks and benefits of new technologies. The White House followed up by seeking commitments from 15 private industry leaders to help lawmakers develop regulations. The list includes major tech companies and newcomers such as Anthropic and OpenAI. The Senate Task Force on AI has passed 15 bills into law since its establishment in 2019, focusing on research and risk assessment. However, the U.S. regulatory environment appears to be relatively relaxed compared to measures passed by the European Union in 2024. Erik Brynjolfsson, a senior fellow at Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, believes that the bureaucratic rules in the EU make it harder for companies to innovate. Economists have worried that AI could lead to job losses for white-collar workers, with at least 60% of work in advanced economies being exposed to changes from AI adoption. In 2023, the New York State Assembly proposed a bill to limit the impact of tech-driven layoffs with a robot tax. However, the bill remains in committee with an uncertain future.

According to Brynjolfsson, there will come a time when robots will be capable of performing most of the tasks that humans currently carry out. However, we are not yet at that stage. To learn more about the U.S. government's plan to regulate artificial intelligence, watch the video above.