Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
A bipartisan group of senators on Tuesday will release a framework to thwart the highest risks posed by frontier AI models.
Why it matters: AI could enable the development of "extreme AI risks" that can fall into the hands of foreign adversaries, terrorists or other bad actors, the senators write.
- The four extreme risks identified are biological, chemical, cyber and nuclear.
What's inside: Sens. Mitt Romney, Jack Reed, Jerry Moran and Angus King's framework, shared exclusively with Axios, suggests establishing federal oversight of the most advanced AI models.
- A government agency would enforce a requirement on developers to guard against biological, chemical, cyber, or nuclear risks.
- Entities that sell large amounts of computing hardware would have to report that activity to the government and make sure customers, especially foreign ones, are vetted.
- The government would need to be notified when certain frontier models are being developed and developers would need to incorporate safeguards against the four extreme risks.
- Before releasing a frontier model, developers would need to obtain a license that would take into account whether it can be open sourced or have more limited public use.
The oversight entity could be a new interagency body, a totally new agency, Commerce or the Energy Department, the senators propose.
What they're saying: Romney said the proposal is meant to be a starting point for further congressional action that doesn't hamper innovation.
- "AI has the potential to dramatically improve and transform our way of life, but it also comes with enormous risks to national security and our humanity at large," he said in a statement.
The big picture: As Congress grapples with the many implications of AI for all facets of society, the framework is meant to prioritize national security implications.
- "The Senate AI working group, led by [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer, has been kept up to date with the framework. It would be our group's hope that this would be included in the product they're working on," a staffer involved in framework discussions told Axios.
