两党参议员正敦促特朗普国家安全官员“充分发挥其全部能力”，以防范人工智能构成的威胁——越早越好。华盛顿州参议员玛丽亚·坎特韦尔，参议院商务委员会首席民主党人，以及共和党南达科他州参议员迈克·朗兹，他担任参议院武装服务委员会网络安全小组委员会成员，正呼吁政府全面应对日益增加的网络安全漏洞。
A bipartisan Senate duo is urging Trump national security officials to “bring its full capacities to bear” to stave off threats posed by artificial intelligence — sooner rather than later. Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, and Republican South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Cybersecurity Subcommittee, are calling for a full government response to a growing number of cybersecurity breaches.
“最近的人工智能安全事件应当作为警示，”参议员们在周二致国家情报总监杰伊·克莱顿和白宫科学技术政策局局长迈克尔·克拉茨奥斯的信中写道。“先进的人工智能代理已经逃脱测试环境，绕过了防护措施，并获得了对政府机构和私人组织所拥有的真实世界系统的未授权访问。”克莱顿和克拉茨奥斯的发言人未能立即回应置评请求。
“Recent AI security incidents should serve as a warning,” the senators wrote in a Tuesday letter to Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton and White House Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios. “Advanced AI agents have escaped testing environments, bypassed safeguards, and gained unauthorized access to real-world systems owned by government agencies and private organizations.”Spokespeople for Clayton and Kratsios did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
该信件发布之际，立法者们正努力就人工智能安全立法的具体内容（如果有的话）达成共识。目前议员们正处于11月大选前的休会期间，几乎没有希望能在年底前取得进展。但那些多年来一直关注该议题的立法者们已经梳理出特朗普政府可立即采取的行政行动，无需等待国会。坎特韦尔和朗兹的优先事项包括：在国家标准与技术研究院（NIST）加强联邦人工智能安全与安全标准；在推动创新与超级智能标准中心、能源部及国家实验室扩大独立测试能力；以及与科技行业合作，开发和部署防御性人工智能工具。
Their letter comes as lawmakers struggle to hash out what legislation on AI safety, if any, might look like. Members are currently in recess ahead of the November elections, and there’s little hope progress can be made by the year’s end. But those lawmakers who have been engaged on the topic for years now have mapped out administrative actions the Trump administration could move on now, without waiting on Congress. The Cantwell and Rounds priorities include: strengthening federal AI safety and security standards at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST; expanding independent testing capabilities at the Center for Advancing Innovation and Standards for Super Intelligence, Department of Energy and the national labs; and working with the tech industry to develop and deploy defensive AI tools.
具体而言，参议员们写道，新的NIST标准应当解决先进人工智能能力所带来的风险，包括恶意行为者可能的滥用，以实施复杂的网络攻击、大规模自动化攻击以及威胁外部系统和关键基础设施的代理。他们还表示，联邦政府的能力应当得到大学及其他研究机构、私营部门以及第三方评估机构的补充。最后，他们指出政府可以利用国防高级研究计划署的现有项目，与人工智能实验室合作，以帮助检测威胁并加强脆弱系统。
Specifically, the senators wrote, new NIST standards should address the risks posed by advanced AI capabilities, including the “potential misuse by malicious actors” to conduct sophisticated cyberattacks, automate attacks at scale and agents that threaten external systems and critical infrastructure. They also said the federal government capacity should be complemented by universities and other research organizations, as well as by private sector, third-party evaluators. Finally, they point to ways the government could use existing programs at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to work with AI labs to help detect threats and reinforce vulnerable systems.