Representing
California
in
Congress
comes
with
a
unique
challenge:
navigating
national
politics
while
reflecting
the
interests
of
the
most
populous
state
in
the
US,
including
a
large
constituency
from
the
tech
industry.
It’s
a
challenge
both
current
California
Sen.
Laphonza
Butler
and
Vice
President
Kamala
Harris
—
who
previously
held
that
title
—
have
taken
on.
And
right
now,
governing
the
tech
world
means
addressing
AI.
Congress
hasn’t
made
much
headway
on
a
national
framework
for
regulating
generative
AI.
But
California
is
the
epicenter
of
the
AI
industry,
home
to
companies
like
OpenAI
and
Google.
On
the
national
stage,
Harris
has
acted
as
an
AI
czar
within
the
Biden
administration,
leading
discussions
with
industry
players
and
civil
society
leaders
about
how
to
regulate
it.
Butler,
who
has
a
long
history
with
the
VP,
is
focusing
on
a
specific
problem:
how
AI
systems
impact
labor
and
social
equity.
Butler
spoke
with
The
Verge
about
balancing
the
interests
of
AI
companies
and
the
people
their
products
impact,
including
workers
who
fear
being
automated
out
of
a
job.
“It
all
starts
with
listening,”
says
Butler,
a
former
labor
leader.
“It
starts
with
listening
to
both
the
developers,
the
communities
potentially
impacted
negatively,
and
the
spaces
where
opportunity
exists.”
Like
many
officials,
Butler
says
she
wants
to
help
protect
Americans
from
the
potential
dangers
of
AI
without
stifling
opportunities
that
could
come
from
it.
She
praised
both
Schumer
and
the
Biden
administration
for
“creating
spaces
for
communities
to
have
[a]
voice.”
Both
have
brought
in
labor
and
civil
society
leaders
in
addition
to
major
AI
industry
executives
to
educate
and
engage
on
regulation
in
the
space.
Butler
insists
lawmakers
don’t
need
to
make
“false
choices”
between
the
interests
of
AI
company
executives
and
the
people
who
make
up
the
workforce.
“Listening
is
fundamental,
balancing
everyone’s
interest,
but
the
goal
has
to
be
to
do
the
most
good
for
the
most
people.
And
to
me,
that
is
where
a
policymaker
will
always
tend
to
land.”
California
state
Senator
Scott
Wiener
made
similar
statements
about
his
hotly
contested
state-level
bill,
SB
1047.
The
bill,
which
would
have
required
whistleblower
protections
and
safeguards
for
potentially
disastrous
events
at
large
AI
companies,
made
it
all
the
way
to
Gov.
Gavin
Newsom’s
desk
before
being
vetoed,
with
companies
like
OpenAI
warning
it
would
slow
innovation.
In
August,
Wiener
argued
that
“we
can
advance
both
innovation
and
safety;
the
two
are
not
mutually
exclusive.”
So
far,
however,
lawmakers
are
struggling
to
find
a
balance
between
the
two.
Butler
praises
the
steps
both
Schumer
and
the
Biden-Harris
administration
have
taken
so
far
to
create
appropriate
guardrails
around
AI
but
says
“there’s
always
more
to
do.”
Schumer
laid
out
a
roadmap
earlier
this
year
about
how
to
shape
AI
policy
(though
it
didn’t
specifically
introduce
actual
legislation),
and
the
White
House
has
secured
voluntary
commitments
from
AI
companies
to
develop
the
technology
safely.
One
of
Butler’s
recent
contributions
is
the
Workforce
of
the
Future
Act,
which
she
introduced
with
Sen.
Mazie
Hirono
(D-HI).
The
bill
would
direct
the
Department
of
Labor,
National
Science
Foundation,
and
Department
of
Education
to
study
the
impact
of
AI
across
job
sectors,
and
it
would
create
a
$250
million
grant
program
to
prepare
workers
for
the
skills
they’ll
need
in
the
future,
especially
in
industries
likely
to
see
job
displacement.
“Hopefully,
by
both
readying
the
work
workforce
of
today
but
also
preparing
the
workforce
of
tomorrow,
we’ll
be
able
to
catch
the
full
opportunity
that
is
the
deployment
of
artificial
intelligence,”
Butler
says.
Butler
sees
this
as
a
moment
in
US
history
where
policymakers
could
“get
ahead
of
what
we
know
is
going
to
be
eventual
disruption
and
try
to
create
a
pipeline
of
opportunities
that
can
again
help
to
both
stabilize
our
economies
by
creating
equitable
opportunity.”
But
Butler
is
realistic
about
the
dynamics
of
Congress
and
the
upcoming
election
in
just
over
a
month.
“You
and
I
both
know
that
this
118th
Congress
is
rapidly
coming
to
a
close,
with
a
lot
of
business
in
front
of
it
right
now,”
she
says.
And
Butler
believes
legislators
still
need
to
have
important
conversations
with
people
representing
different
sides
of
the
issue
before
advancing
comprehensive
AI
legislation.
And
there’s
also,
she
notes,
the
small
issue
of
“getting
through
the
next
presidential
election
this
November.”
(Originally posted by Lauren Feiner)
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