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MIT professor to Congress: “We are at an inflection point” with AI

Government should not “abdicate” its responsibilities and leave the future path of artificial intelligence solely to Big Tech, Aleksander Mądry, the Cadence Design Systems Professor of Computing at MIT and director of the MIT Center for Deployable Machine Learning, told a Congressional panel on Wednesday. 

Rather, Mądry said, government should be asking questions about the purpose and explainability of the algorithms corporations are using, as a precursor to regulation, which he described as “an important tool” in ensuring that AI is consistent with society’s goals. If the government doesn’t start asking questions, then “I am extremely worried” about the future of AI, Mądry said in response to a question from Rep. Gerald Connolly.

Mądry, a leading expert on explainability and AI, was testifying at a hearing titled “Advances in AI: Are We Ready for a Tech Revolution?” before the House Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, a panel of the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. The other witnesses at the hearing were former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, IBM Vice President Scott Crowder, and Center for AI and Digital Policy Senior Research Director Merve Hickok. ...

... Mądry raised three overarching points. First, he noted that AI is “no longer a matter of science fiction” ...Second, he said AI exposes us to “interactions that go against our intuition.” ... Finally, he said too little attention has been paid to problems that will result from the nature of the AI “supply chain” — the way AI systems are built on top of each other.  ... the mix of AI tools makes it difficult to know whom to hold responsible when a problem results — who should be legally liable and who should address the concern. ...

The full 2 hour hearing can be viewed here: https://oversight.house.gov/hearing/advances-in-ai-are-we-ready-for-a-tech-revolution/

See the full story here: https://news.mit.edu/2023/mit-congress-inflection-point-ai-0310