- Sign up HERE to our DC Insider newsletter - your guide to what's rocking Washington, rattling the White House and setting tongues wagging on the Hill
- See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source
First Lady Melania Trump this week challenged North Carolina elementary school students to build 'the next great robot,' and bring it straight to the White House.
asserted
Trump → sign → House
The explosion of artificial intelligence is changing how workers operate and how people gather information.
asserted
people → change → information
But the prospect of robots walking around homes left some lawmakers on Capitol Hill spooked.
asserted
robots → walk → Hill
'I mean, I've got kids.
asserted
I → mean → kids
I don't want my kids around robots,' Representative Ilhan Omar told the Daily Mail.
asserted
Omar → want → Mail
'That feels a little creepy.'
asserted
That → feel → ?
Representative Jamie Raskin warned the generation of such robots create 'massive, pervasive, new, systemic risks,' including the possibility of increasingly autonomous AI systems becoming difficult for humans to control.
asserted
humans → warn → possibility
Others, like Representative Rich of Georgia seemed ready to invite them into their home.
asserted
Others → seem → home
'You remember I, Robot, the Will Smith movie, right?
asserted
You → remember → I
Where they start doing everything around the house.
asserted
they → start → house
People worry about those things turning on you someday.
asserted
things → worry → you
Who knows how that's gonna work, but I'm not too worried about it.
asserted
I → know → it
I think it'll be a gradual process of people who can afford it, will have it.'
asserted
who → think → it
First Lady Melania Trump said that it's 'very important' that the US 'lead' in AI as a country, while visiting elementary school students in North Carolina on Tuesday.
asserted
US → say → Tuesday
She encouraged students to build robots
When asked about how she would feel about robots in her home, Representative Ilhan Omar said 'I mean, I've got kids.
asserted
I → encourage → kids
I don't want my kids around robots.
asserted
I → want → robots
That feels a little creepy'
asserted
That → feel → ?
'You remember I, Robot, the Will Smith movie, right?
asserted
You → remember → ?
Where they start doing everything around the house.
asserted
they → start → house
People worry about those things turning on you someday.
asserted
things → worry → you
Who knows how that's gonna work, but I'm not too worried about it'
asserted
I → know → it
McCormick said on robots
Washington is piling pressure on the booming AI industry, with lawmakers proposing sweeping new rules that could force the most powerful AI companies to undergo independent safety checks, report dangerous incidents to the government and maintain a 'kill switch' capable of shutting down advanced systems in an emergency.
uncertain
that → say → emergency
The AI giants are increasingly asking Washington for a single national rulebook, with mandatory safety testing and checks.
asserted
giants → ask → testing
Representative Ro Khanna, who serves on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said he wants an entirely new federal agency to oversee artificial intelligence.
asserted
he → serve → intelligence
Khanna said a new agency could police AI the way federal regulators already oversee drugs, electricity and nuclear power.
uncertain
regulators → say → drugs
He also warned about AI systems that act on their own, pointing to what engineers call a 'P(doom)' score - their own odds that the technology ends in catastrophe.
asserted
technology → warn → catastrophe
'The engineers go around with this thing called a P(doom) number,' he said.
asserted
he → go → thing
Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington, called Trump's opposition to additional AI regulation 'destructive.'
asserted
Jayapal → call → regulation
Representative Ro Khanna, who serves on the Oversight and Government Reform committee, said he wants an entirely new federal agency to oversee artificial intelligence
But
asserted
agency → serve → intelligence
Khanna's fellow ally Representative Thomas Massie argued that Washington should be wary of rushing into regulation
'I don't think Donald Trump can save us from anything.'
asserted
Trump → argue → anything
Raskin argued that while existing laws already apply to AI, technological advances may require lawmakers to revisit those laws
She also criticized Trump's relationships with major technology executives and said she does not believe the president's opposition would stop demands for regulation.
Representative Thomas Massie warned Washington against rushing in, and said the loudest voices for regulation may have the most to gain.
Big tech companies, he argued, can absorb the cost of complex rules.
uncertain
he → argue → rules
McCormick made the case for AI around competition from China.
asserted
McCormick → make → China
'I think if we start pumping the brakes with us, China's gonna zoom right past us.'
Congressman Tim Burchett, a Republican from Tennessee is content to leave it to the president.
asserted
Burchett → think → president
'Yeah, he understands it.
asserted
he → understand → it
I trust him ...
asserted
I → trust → him
It's just the next president I worry about.
asserted
I → worry → ?
But Democrats aren't willing to wait, with Raskin arguing that Congress should rewrite rules before machines outrun human ability to control them.
asserted
machines → wait → them
Senator Richard Blumenthal said Trump's dismissal of AI risk as a 'hoax' won't survive contact with reality.
asserted
dismissal → say → reality
'I think he's gonna have to see that there is a freight train coming down the track.
asserted
he → think → track
'
Omar wasn't so sure : 'We have to save ourselves.'
asserted
We → have → ourselves
The Aporia
