Concerns are growing about the threat AI may pose to individuals, businesses and governments. Rep. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, said AI was “ahead” of Congress’ ability to regulate and ensure that consumers and others were not taken advantage of. He said he wanted a public hearing. Waters also told Yahoo Finance Live that he was “deeply disappointed” by the Supreme Court’s decision to void affirmative action in college admissions.
video transcript
[AUDIO LOGO]
Jennifer Schoenberger: Welcome to Yahoo Finance Live. I’m Jennifer Schoenberger. Now, US lawmakers are making waves after the US Supreme Court ruled against formative, or affirmative, affirmative action on college admissions. All of this is because lawmakers are not only looking at ways to regulate artificial intelligence, but are also rushing to crack down more on cryptocurrencies.
For those interested in learning more about this, Rep. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, will be joining us. Congressman Waters, thank you very much for joining us. nice to see you.
Maxine Waters: I am happy to be with you all today.
Jennifer Schoenberger: Before we get into AI, I’d like to hear your reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling, which effectively bans affirmative action in admissions and admissions procedures for colleges and universities in this country. Since you represent California, you’ve seen first-hand how this plays out, given that the state banned affirmative action against public universities about 25 years ago. How do you think this federal ruling will play out in the future?
Maxine Waters: Of course, I am very disappointed with the Supreme Court. Going back to Lyndon Johnson, I think around 1961, he took affirmative action. And by 1968 or so, the Supreme Court ruled that race, though not everything, was a factor in considering whether race could be used in college applications to determine whether a student was eligible. I have ruled that there is a possibility. go to that institution.
So, as you know, until about 2000 the Supreme Court basically upheld the fact that there was discrimination in education. And sure, race could be a factor. But, as you probably already know, there has been a right-wing attack on affirmative action that uses race as a factor in the last 20 years or so. And they’ve come to the point where they now have the Supreme Court to carry out their orders. As you know, conservatives are winning on this despite the fact that there is still a need to use race as a factor for black and brown students who have traditionally been discriminated against. .
As you know, these students are not from wealthy families. They are not from traditional families. These are the people who have worked hard to get into the best educational institutions in this country. But if race weren’t one of your considerations, you wouldn’t get that opportunity. That’s too bad. This is a victory for the right-wing conservatives who have been trying to destroy it for years. And I hope that this struggle that we must and must continue will bring us back to a place where there is some equality in access to education.
Jennifer Schoenberger: Do you think legislation will be enacted to overturn this ruling?
Maxine Waters: Well, I think there’s certainly anything we can do. And yes, the legislation will be in place. It would be great if the Supreme Court could finally recognize that it probably didn’t make the right decision and change that decision in the near future. I don’t think that will happen. But we are going to struggle. we’re going to fight we will do everything we can.
Jennifer Schoenberger: have understood. Let’s turn to AI —
Maxine Waters: –This leadership.
Jennifer Schoenberger: have understood. Congressman, let’s turn to AI —
Maxine Waters: sorry.
Jennifer Schoenberger: You can hold hearings with House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry on Microsoft’s ChatGPT and other AI advancements ASAP to truly understand the risks and possibly dangers posed to the financial and housing sectors. I asked you to Have you heard from Chairman McHenry about this? Can we expect public hearings on AI any time soon?
Maxine Waters: I hadn’t heard of him, but I did send him a letter telling him I strongly support the hearing on AI. In fact, AI is ahead of Congress’ regulatory ability to regulate consumer exploitation and ensure that we understand the truth and that the biases that are already in our algorithms don’t cause problems for AI. going. .
So I am very much looking forward to this hearing. I think it is absolutely necessary. And I think we need to be concerned about who is doing it. And just a few minutes ago on the show, I heard a caveat about investing in AI without knowing everything about the company you want to invest in. Because some companies are strong. They have the resources they need to deliver their product. But others may not be in that situation. So we need to start by making sure regulations are in place to protect everyone.
Jennifer Schoenberger: Now, Senator, you led a task force on AI for four years. How do you think Congress should regulate AI? What does regulation look like for AI?
Maxine Waters: Well, that’s one of the things we tried to find out with the special committee headed by Mr. Foster. Foster was the legislator responsible for investigating and seeing what could be determined. And they learned a lot about AI. But let’s take the example of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau truly believes it is important to get ahead of AI in this regard so that it can be used to answer questions about what the law is. And how they react to it and what they can do to feel safe when they are being taken advantage of.
If we want to have good information, if we want to have information that will definitely protect our consumers, we need to make sure the AI is not biased. harm them. So whether it’s the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, education, or housing, we have to have regulations that ensure there’s no backtracking and no harm to consumers or would-be homeowners. not. But we are giving them the information they need to succeed in what they are trying to do.
Jennifer Schoenberger: Do you think Congress should create a new agency to oversee the development and implementation of AI, as well as its continued oversight? do you think you can make
Maxine Waters: There is a lot of discussion about it. And I know there are people who are leaning toward not creating a new regulator and thinking maybe we should join the SEC. I’m leaning towards another agency. My staff and I haven’t collaborated much on this issue, but I believe this technology is very new and very different from what we’ve seen before. You have to teach people about chat boxes, black boxes, etc. The point is that we really need another agency to do what is needed to put in place the necessary regulations for this new technology.
Therefore, there is currently disagreement by many on this point. It’s definitely not decided. But I feel so.
Jennifer Schoenberger: Lawmakers, earlier this year a ’60 Minutes’ report showed that a Google-developed machine could learn Bangladeshi and start translating in Bengali. And Google didn’t know how the machine actually did it. So who’s to say this machine is run by Google and many of us use Google’s search engine or his Gmail and may start exposing people’s personal financial information publicly Uka And the fact that Google doesn’t really know how that’s happening at the moment, how do you create a guardrail against it?
Maxine Waters: Well, I think you hit the mark on the point that we don’t know all the dangers of AI. We don’t know what kind of work they can make. And I think we have to be careful. You have to be very careful. Regulation is required. Should start right away. It took a little too long.
But you are completely right. We do not know what will be created in the way we have seen some of the creations you have identified.
Jennifer Schoenberger: And turning to cryptocurrencies, Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee have introduced a debate bill on a framework for regulating cryptocurrencies. What do you think of the law? And what about the stablecoin bill?
Maxine Waters: Well, there has been a bipartisan effort when it comes to stablecoins. We have worked together to come up with the kind of regulation and oversight that is needed. A short stop was made at the final break. But we are very close. And to protect investing consumers, I believe we can pass bipartisan legislation to ensure that the assets that companies claim they hold can be held in stablecoins. I’m here.
So when we talk about cryptocurrencies, really stablecoins are at the forefront of everything else we need to do and are on the road to potentially getting the kind of regulation that we need. is. Therefore, I have high hopes for stablecoins. But when it comes to tackling larger cryptocurrencies, there is still a lot of work to be done.
We know McHenry is trying to come up with another initiative to deal with cryptocurrencies. But we’re not quite there yet.
Jennifer Schoenberger: have understood. Mr. Waters, I’m afraid that’s all for today. Thank you very much for your insight. I look forward to speaking with you again soon.
Maxine Waters: Well, thank you for hanging out with me. I appreciate it
