Protecting Us All from AI and Big Data

Artificial intelligence holds great power for solving big problems. However, governments must exercise vigorous oversight to ensure it is not abused. In Congress I would introduce legislation to create a federal agency within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (which should absolutely be re-established to full strength after being gutted by Trump) to identify risks in our economy from misuse of AI. The agency will be charged with bringing forward legislation annually to protect Americans from AI uses that for example: drive up rents and health care costs, lead to worse consumer outcomes, and otherwise lead to negative experiences. I am concerned over the significant water and power needs to run AI data centers, driving up utility costs for consumers while detrimentally affecting the environment. I believe all data centers need to publicly report their water and energy usage on a monthly basis.

In addition to regulating the operational uses of AI in the coming years, we need to be regularly evaluating the ethical uses of AI in all industries, most notably healthcare.