Artificial intelligence took center stage at a recent “State of the Region” luncheon hosted by the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce, during which two local members of Congress advocated for greater regulations.
While U.S. Reps. Maxine Waters and Ted Lieu, Democrats who represent different portions of the South Bay, discussed various topics during this week’s event — including affordable housing, education, the economy, infrastructure and the environment — a common theme in their speeches centered around regulating new technologies like AI and cryptocurrency.
Lieu, one of a few Congress members with a computer science degree, has been an outspoken advocate on Capitol Hill, urging the government to take a more proactive stance in regulating AI.
He noted the technology’s potential to pose existential threats, such as with autonomous weapons, and its capability to cause human fatalities, as seen in incidents involving self-driving cars.
Still, the most challenging category of AIs to regulate, Lieu said, are those that inflict some harm to society — albeit not fatal — such as hiring algorithms displaying gender or racial discrimination.
“My view is we need more regulators at the state and federal levels more trained in AI to deal with some of the unique aspects of it,” said Lieu, who represents the 36th Congressional District, an area that stretches from Beverly Hills to the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
Waters, meanwhile, said she has heard concerns from constituents throughout Los Angeles County, including in the South Bay, about AI’s potential societal ramifications, including worries about bias, privacy, security and job displacement.
As a ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, Waters, said, she has spearheaded efforts to investigate both the benefits and drawbacks of AI, particularly within the financial industry.
Regulations are needed to prevent AI from exacerbating current disparities in the financial system and housing, Waters said, which would adversely affect consumers across the South Bay, from tenant screening to home appraisal.
“The housing industry,” Waters said, “is also rapidly developing its use of AI technologies to make critical decisions about who has access to housing and the value of someone’s largest investment, their home, often with discriminatory, adverse effects.”
If harnessed correctly, though, AI has the potential to broaden financial access for consumers, homeowners, renters and small businesses, said Waters, who has represented District 43 since 2013.
But the rapid pace of technology advancement, she added, “may surpass the ability of Congress and regulatory bodies to fully address AI’s negative impacts and to implement protective measures safeguarding consumers and investors.
The business community also has three main concerns when it comes to AI, according to Donna Duperron, president and CEO of the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce.
“The first being voluntary data exfiltration,” she said in a Thursday, Feb. 22, email. “Employees rely on AI tools like Chat GPT to do their jobs better, but how do employers prevent employees from putting confidential and private company information up to tools like Chat GPT?
“Secondly, how do businesses not succumb to AI bias, mistakenly using AI generated information that is not verified,” she added. “And lastly, the chamber is concerned about AI replacing jobs.”
Both Waters and Lieu, though, reassured the around 200 attendees at the Wednesday, Feb. 21, luncheon that Congress has established mechanisms to explore how it can mitigate potential risks associated with the fast-moving technology.
Lieu, for instance, pointed to the recently announced bipartisan House task force on AI, which he has been tapped to lead as a co-chair alongside Rep. Jay Obernolte, a Republican representing California’s 23rd District.
“Every committee jurisdiction has a part of AI. So financial services, for example, has a large part of AI and how it deals with financial products,” Lieu said. “Congresswoman Waters has established an AI task force as well within financial services to work on that. So our goal is to, how do we make this together into a report as to what might be the best way to go forward.”
In terms of cryptocurrency, Waters said, it’s important to have a federal regulatory framework in place for digital assets, such as “stablecoin,” a cryptocurrency pegged to a stable reserve asset, such as the US dollar.
She and Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-North Carolina, the chair of the House Financial Services committee, are “making major progress” in putting together a bipartisan bill that would address concerns related to stablecoins, Waters said.
“I look forward to sharing an update with you all on the status of bipartisan negotiation very soon,” Waters said, “and how this bill will help to ensure that South Bay consumers and our markets are protected from any future harm.”