周三，众议院少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯（D-纽约州）批评特朗普总统反对对人工智能（AI）发展实施联邦层面的监管。杰弗里斯指出，特朗普允许AI行业自我监管的做法其实是一个典型的、极其危险的做法——就好比“让狐狸来看守鸡舍”一样。他在国会大厦外对记者表示：“在这种情况下，签署任何完全无法强制执行的自愿协议、并让整个AI行业自行监管，显然都不是正确的应对方式；因为AI行业领导者自己都已经意识到这项技术可能对美国人民造成严重危害。”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday knocked President Trump for opposing federal limits on the development of artificial intelligence (AI). Jeffries said Trump’s approach of allowing the AI industry to police itself is a classic — and dangerous — case of letting the fox guard the henhouse. “The notion of entering into a voluntary agreement that is entirely unenforceable, and that allows the industry writ large to police itself, is not the right response at this moment given the potentially grave harm and danger that industry leaders themselves are now flagging for the American people," Jeffries told reporters just outside the Capitol.
关于AI安全性的争论其实早在该技术诞生之前就开始了。然而，最近几周，随着一些顶尖AI开发者的警告（他们认为AI的发展速度远远超过了人类控制它的能力），这场争论的紧迫性达到了新的高度。一些开发者甚至担心AI技术会构成对人类生存的威胁。这些警告促使国会山上的民主党人更加迫切地要求制定相应的监管措施，以确保公众安全。
The debate over AI safety is even older than the technology itself. But the urgency surrounding that debate has reached new heights in recent weeks in the wake of warnings from some of the leading AI developers that the technology is evolving faster than the human capacity to contain it. Some of them fear the threat is existential. Those warnings have triggered a new urgency among Democrats on Capitol Hill to adopt AI guardrails designed to ensure public safety.
杰弗里斯举例说明了AI系统失控的情况：有些AI系统会在未经母公司许可的情况下自行运行，完全脱离其预设的指令范围。“这就是为什么AI行业领导者公开呼吁必须放慢AI技术的发展速度、控制其发展节奏的原因。因为在某些情况下，这些公司自己也不清楚该如何有效控制这种爆炸性的增长趋势，进而也无法保护美国人民的利益。”
Jeffries pointed to episodes when AI agents have gone rogue, operating outside the parameters of the parent company’s direction without detection. “It's the reason why you have industry leaders publicly saying [that] things need to be slowed down and paced. Because in some instances, it seems like the companies themselves are uncertain as to how to actually contain the explosive growth, and as a result, how to best protect the American people,” Jeffries said.
“国会必须采取行动，而这正是民主党人所认为应该做的——不是在下届国会，而是现在就行动。”特朗普拒绝接受联邦政策制定者应该介入这一观点，称那些关于人工智能可能带来的威胁的警告“纯属骗局”。周二，总统在白宫召集了许多人工智能领域的顶尖专家，承诺对这一行业采取不干涉的态度。他说：“我绝不会扼杀这项比工业革命还要具有重大影响力的技术的发展。”
“Congress needs to act, and that's what Democrats believe should occur — not in the next Congress, but right now.”Trump has rejected the idea that federal policymakers should intervene, calling the warnings about the potential threats posed by AI “a hoax.”On Tuesday, the president hosted many of the top AI leaders at the White House, where he promised to maintain a hands-off approach to the industry. “I will never stifle the growth of technology that will be bigger than the industrial revolution,” he said.
这个问题正在分裂国会中的共和党人：众议院议长迈克·约翰逊（共和党，来自路易斯安那州）采取了特朗普的策略，即让该行业自行制定安全措施；而参议院多数党领袖约翰·图恩（共和党，来自南达科他州）则更倾向于认为国会应该出台新的限制措施。杰弗里斯呼吁立即采取行动，但这主要是出于政治考虑——因为目前两院都还没有明确的立法方案可供讨论，就连民主党的人工智能工作组也尚未提出正式建议。
The issue is dividing Republicans in the Capitol, where Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has adopted Trump’s strategy of allowing the industry to take the lead on safeguards, while Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has been more open to the idea that Congress should step in with some new limits. Jeffries’s call for immediate action is largely political, since there’s no obvious legislative fix waiting for consideration in either chamber, and even the Democrats’ AI task force has yet to propose its formal recommendations.
尽管如此，人工智能问题以及与之相关的数据中心快速发展问题，已经成为中期选举前的一个重要议题。民主党人正在强调两党在联邦政府应扮演何种角色以确保技术安全方面的分歧，希望公众对这项快速发展技术的担忧能为他们在11月的选举中赢得更多选票。
Still, the AI issue — along with the related debate over the explosive growth of data centers — has emerged as a potent topic heading into the midterm elections. And Democrats are highlighting the contrast between the two parties when it comes to the federal role in ensuring safety precautions, hoping the public anxiety surrounding the rapidly developing technology will win them more votes in November.