Regulatory Changes Expected for AI as Congress Considers More Oversight

Regulatory Changes Expected for AI as Congress Considers More Oversight

WASHINGTON — A congressional panel considered data privacy legislation Wednesday at a hearing in a week marked by the federal government’s struggle to regulate artificial intelligence.

About the same time Wednesday, OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman met with top lawmakers in Washington to recommend what his company’s blog post calls “thoughtful regulation” of artificial intelligence but against laws that stifle innovation.

OpenAI is an artificial intelligence giant that operates ChatGPT. The company is preparing for an initial public offering of its stock. It also is confronting a lawsuit filed in Florida this week that accuses it of putting profit over public safety.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that encourages AI developers to share their systems with federal cybersecurity experts before they are released publicly.

The pre-release testing is supposed to check for security dangers but avoid risks of inhibiting business development.

“Advanced AI capabilities make our Nation stronger, but also introduce new national security considerations that require coordinated action across executive departments and agencies … and components,” the executive order says.

Similar issues of economic development versus government regulation were discussed at a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing as lawmakers prepare for a vote on the SECURE Data Act. SECURE is an acronym for Securing and Establishing Consumer Uniform Rights and Enforcement.

The bill, introduced in April, would create a nationwide standard for companies on collecting, using and protecting personal data that could be found through artificial intelligence. It would give consumers rights to access, correct and delete their personal information.

“The question is can you find a balance,” said Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., a member of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade.

The proposed federal law would preempt state laws but would be largely enforced by state attorneys general.

The emerging U.S. “AI economy” generated about $250 billion in annual economic output in 2025, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Researchers surveyed by the National Bureau of Economic Research expect artificial intelligence to raise U.S. annual domestic product growth by about 2.5% by 2030.