WASHINGTON: Lawmakers and White House advisers say prominent AI leaders are becoming a political liability as public warnings about the technology’s worst-case risks intensify.
Even officials and legislators who support artificial intelligence development want industry chiefs to focus more closely on building products safely.
Their frustration centres on repeated public discussion of digital sentience, global catastrophe and other extreme outcomes.
Officials argue that such rhetoric is making an already difficult regulatory debate harder by turning technical policy questions into a broader moral panic.
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Washington has long viewed Silicon Valley as culturally different from traditional industries. The latest concern, however, focuses on how AI founders communicate about the technology they are developing.
Pro-AI officials want executives to behave more like leaders in other major industries, concentrating public attention on products, safety and practical policy questions.
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The criticism reflects growing unease in Washington over whether dramatic warnings from technology executives are helping policymakers understand AI risks or making regulation more politically difficult.
