Bernie Sanders and Greg Casar propose AI ‘superintelligence’ ban with a 20-year jail penalty

WASHINGTON — Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, rolled out an aggressive bill Wednesday to rein in artificial intelligence, escalating the debate on Capitol Hill.

The 19-page Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act would require pausing advanced AI development until a Cabinet-level Department of Artificial Intelligence, led by a secretary of AI, can be created to regulate and supervise it.

Violating the rules would come with what they called the “corporate death penalty” plus up to 20 years in jail, which Sanders said is the same penalty as unlawfully building nuclear weapons.

The bill is one of the most aggressive of a series of congressional proposals to regulate AI. While AI was a major topic of discussion on Capitol Hill as researchers warned of cataclysmic possibilities this month, there’s little expectation that any meaningful legislation will pass this year.

In Congress, “virtually nothing is happening to prepare us for the tsunami that is coming,” Sanders told reporters on a call Wednesday.

His bill with Casar includes a list of precursors that seek to define the development of “superintelligence,” including: “The capacity to automate or greatly accelerate the process of artificial intelligence research and development.”

The goal is to bar…

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/business