I was really struck by how not adversarial this hearing was and how lawmakers were very friendly, particularly towards Sam Altman. The posture was so different. There wasn't this sort of performative I'm so angry. Your company's terrible for democracy. It's sort of tenor in the questioning. And that was a very different thing that I've seen and surprising from hearings in past. They weren't asking the CEO of Google how an iPhone works. But they were looking to Sam Altman for answers and for guidance. So I would say not totally reassuring.
In a congressional hearing this week, OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman, appeared to be on the same page as lawmakers: It’s time to regulate A.I. But like so many other proposals to regulate tech, will it actually happen? The Times’s technology reporter Cecilia Kang helps us understand whether Congress will actually act, and what that could look like.
Then, Casey talks with Twitter’s former head of trust and safety, Yoel Roth, before and after Elon Musk took over the company.
On today’s episode:
- Cecilia Kang is a reporter at The New York Times covering technology and regulation.
- Yoel Roth is the former head of trust and safety at Twitter.
Additional reading:
- Sam Altman urged Congress to pass legislation to regulate A.I., including the proposal that A.I. developers should be required to get licenses from the U.S. government to release their models.
- Casey Newton reported for This American Life on Roth’s time at Twitter, before and after Musk took over.