OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tells US Senate panel generative AI needs regulation

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman tells US Senate panel generative AI needs regulation

OpenAI founder and CEO Sam Altman found himself in Washington DC, addressing a US Senate panel on the rise of generative AI and its possible effects on many different industries. Altman told the panel that such AI systems, like his company's own ChatGPT, need to be regulated by the government.

Reuters reports that Altman believes the government should require some kind of licensing and testing requirements for AI systems. He also stated that the use of AI to interfere with upcoming elections by users who may create realistic-looking false images or video is a "significant area of concern."

That was brought home during the start of the hearing by US Senator Richard Blumenthal. Bloomberg posted a video of Blumenthal who played a recording of his voice talking about the effects of AI. However, he revealed that the recording was actually made by an AI that replicated his voice that was trained via his previous US Senate speeches. Even that recording's remarks were written by an AI program.

CNN reports that after that recording was made, Blumenthal said that AI replicated voice could have also created false "endorsement of Ukraine’s surrendering or Vladimir Putin’s leadership."

Altman also said at the panel that businesses should have the right to ban their content from being used by AI training models. He also stated that he preferred AI use a subscription model, like OpenAI's own ChatGPT Plus, rather than an ad-based model, which is being used by Microsoft's Bing Chat.