US Failed to Act on AI Regulation: Former FCC Chairman

With the AI ​​race showing few signs of slowing down, lawmakers find themselves in uncharted waters when it comes to regulating the technology. Former U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler joins Catalysts to discuss the state of AI and how to regulate Big Tech.

“When we look at AI, we have to recognize that all the things that have happened in the last 12 months that are making our heads spin are probably the smallest changes that we’re going to see in our lifetime. And so the question becomes, how do we deal with that? How do we transform an industrial economy that was overseen by industrial-era-style regulation into a digital economy, an AI economy that has oversight that protects the public interest? And the challenge so far is that, at least in the United States, our policymakers have not risen to the challenge,” Wheeler says.

He notes that the EU and individual states in the US have their own set of rules, “which will create new problems for those tech companies that rely on the single market.” He explains that the way Europe regulates tech companies is a “much more agile approach” than the micromanagement of the industrial era, and it’s an approach that “still encourages innovation and investment.” However, he believes the US will struggle to reach that point because it’s dealing with “a Congress that’s having a hard time making any decisions.”

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This post was written by Melanie Riehl

Video Transcription

Some of the biggest companies in tech, from Meta to Apple, continue to face scrutiny from European regulators.

Will the wave of foreign regulation lead to the enactment of more domestic regulations on the matter?

To give us his view?

Here we have Tom Wheeler, former FCC chairman and author of Tech Lash, setting the rules in the digital age of gold.

Tom, nice to talk to you.

Thank you very much for being here with us.

It is clear that AI puts even more pressure on regulating technological issues.

I’m interested in your perspective. If you can give us a little bit more background on what this is about, what your basic assumptions are about the consequences if there’s no real legislation or regulation in the United States around AI.

Well, first of all, thank you so much for inviting me to meet with you today.

You know, I think when we look at AI, we have to realize that all of these things that have happened in the last 12 months that are making our heads spin are probably the smallest changes that we’ll see in our lifetime.

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And the question arises, how to deal with it?

How do we transform an industrial economy that has been regulated since the industrial era into a digital economy, an economy based on artificial intelligence, whose oversight is designed to protect the public interest?

And the challenge so far is that, at least in the United States, our policymakers have not risen to the challenge and we are seeing other countries and states in the United States developing regulations that will create new problems for those technology companies that are dependent on the single market.

Sir, I am guessing what exactly these problems are, what do they look like?

And you’re talking about other countries outside the US taking the steps that Europe is taking. Is that a good example?

Should the United States follow Europe’s lead on this issue?

I think Europe, where they are, is inventing a new paradigm.

They said they would, above all, take action to ensure competition and fairness in the market, something U.S. regulators have failed to do.

And they said we’ll do it in a new way.

We will not clone the old regulations from the industrial era that were based on micromanagement.

Instead, we will say what the goals are, what four aspects of company behavior we expect from them, and companies knowing that will be obliged to show us how they are achieving them.

And this is a completely new approach.

This is a much more agile approach.

It’s an approach that continues to encourage innovation and investment, and sets the standard for how we should approach things in the United States.

Will we ever get to a point where Congress has difficulty making any decisions?