Wicker: Helping maintain America’s AI edge
By U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.)
Beat China in the AI Arms Race
For decades, most Americans thought of artificial intelligence (AI) as a make-believe character in science fiction movies. Now, the future has arrived. We are adjusting to a world full of AI.
Artificial intelligence is with us at the doctor’s office, helping detect cancer during our annual screenings. Companies use AI to support self-driving vehicles. On Facebook, users debate whether video clips are authentic or are eerily believable “deepfakes.” ChatGPT notoriously allows students to produce illicit term papers in seconds. On the battlefield, AI lets soldiers quickly analyze enemy activity. I could go on – to AI’s applications in finance, agriculture, manufacturing, and more.
The Risks and Rewards of AI
Those capabilities make people both excited and troubled. We call this intelligence “artificial” because scientists create it. They use math to teach computers how to solve problems and recognize patterns. Americans recognize that AI has nearly unlimited potential to benefit humanity. But the technology also raises difficult questions about privacy and job security.
Even the recently-elected pope understands these concerns. In his first address to the world, Pope Leo XIV said this rapidly developing technology raises, “new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor.” I believe the pope is right to recognize the high stakes. To use AI wisely, we need input from leaders in the church, government, academia, and the private sector.
In the U.S. Senate, my colleagues and I are working to balance the risks and rewards of AI. Earlier this year, we acted to protect Americans from some of the harmful uses of the technology. Congress passed and President Trump signed into law a bill called the Take It Down Act. A key part of that law sets punishments for those who use AI to create certain pornographic deepfakes.
Beat China in the AI Race
The Take It Down Act demonstrates the unfortunate fact that individuals can misuse AI to devastating effect. The same is true for our adversaries. For the past two decades, the Chinese Communist Party has been pouring trillions of dollars into its military, trying to challenge the United States in hard power. It has also been investing in cyber capabilities such as AI.
The United States is – and can remain – ahead of the Chinese Communist Party’s technological ambitions. But we must act quickly to keep America’s edge. Simply put, if we do not win the AI race, China will – directly threatening our national security.
To Win, Unleash American Innovation
America is poised to succeed in AI because we have the world’s most dynamic talent, research, and business ecosystem. The government should do what it can to facilitate that marketplace. Any government regulations on AI must begin with a “light touch” so that innovators can experiment, prototype, and compete. In this way, we mirror the approach the government took with the internet, allowing that technology to grow and develop in the United States.
Unfortunately, President Biden took the opposite approach. In the final week of his term, officials set new rules that would have handicapped the supply chain for chips and semiconductors, which power AI. The rule would have gone into effect this month, weakening the American companies helping us win the technology race.
My Republican colleagues and I encouraged President Trump to block the heavy-handed rule, and he did so this month. The president replaced that Biden-era policy with a framework that makes the United States and our allies more competitive again.
On that positive note, it seems fitting to conclude with a summary written by ChatGPT: “America has always led the world in innovation. From the lightbulb to the moon landing to the internet, we have proven time and again that freedom fosters invention. AI should be no different.”
Roger Wicker is a U.S. Senator from Mississippi and opinions expressed are solely his.
