During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI) spoke in support of a ‘light touch regulatory approach’ to artificial intelligence.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare recess at any time.
00:04We welcome everyone to today's hearing on artificial intelligence and trends in innovation
00:09and competition.
00:10I will now recognize myself for an opening statement.
00:20Artificial intelligence, AI, is a powerful new technology and it's moving fast.
00:25It already is changing the way businesses operate, how people work, and how we solve
00:30problems throughout our society.
00:32From agriculture to manufacturing to customer service, AI is showing up in more places every
00:38day and it's helping Americans get more done, faster and more efficiently.
00:43There's no doubt this is a big moment for both America and the rest of the world.
00:50But the question before us today is this, will we respond to it with more freedom or
00:55with more government control?
00:58America has always led the way in innovation, not because we have the biggest government,
01:02but because we have trusted our people.
01:04We believe in free markets, competition, and limited government.
01:08That's what built our economy and that's how we create new technologies from the light
01:12bulb to the smartphone.
01:14And that's why the United States, not China or Europe, has been the global leader in innovation
01:19for over a century.
01:21And that same model is working in AI.
01:25The story we hear sometimes is that a few big companies are dominating the AI sector.
01:30But when you look closer, the story unravels.
01:33Throughout this industry, there is real competition happening at every layer of the AI sector
01:40– in cloud infrastructure, in AI models, and in tools and applications.
01:46It's true that big tech plays a role in this sector.
01:50But you also have startups, open source developers, university labs, and solo engineers pushing
01:56the boundaries of this exciting new technology.
02:00Small businesses are using AI to do things they never could afford before – automate
02:05routine tasks, improve customer service, analyze data, write content, design products, and
02:11more.
02:12AI is helping the little guy compete with the big guys.
02:16It's lowering barriers to entry across the board.
02:19This isn't a monopoly story, it's a success story.
02:23It's the free market doing what it does best.
02:26But unfortunately, some in government want to step in and start regulating before they
02:31even understand what they are regulating.
02:34They want to create sweeping new rules or even whole new agencies to oversee AI under
02:39the claim of safety and of fairness.
02:42They want to decide which models are quote-unquote responsible, which tools are quote-unquote
02:48approved, and which approaches are fair and who gets to build what.
02:53That's very dangerous.
02:55We see this same saga playing out time and time again.
02:58Overregulation can kill innovation.
03:01When government inserts itself too early, it locks in incumbents, drives up costs, and
03:06freezes the market.
03:09Startups get squeezed.
03:11The rules benefit the insiders, and innovation slows to a crawl.
03:16Meanwhile, our competitors, especially in China, aren't waiting around.
03:21They're pouring billions into AI development.
03:23They're using it to monopolize their military, monitor their citizens, and try to leapfrog
03:29the U.S. on the global stage to the detriment of Democrat principles and values.
03:35And over in Europe, the EU is rolling out a top-down AI regulatory regime that already
03:42is causing problems for American companies trying to do business overseas.
03:47The rules are vague, burdensome, and constantly shifting.
03:51And they've been written by bureaucrats who aren't accountable, certainly to the American
03:57people.
03:58We should not copy China's model of control, and we should not copy Europe's model of overregulation.
04:04We need to stay true to what works, and that is free enterprise, open competition, and
04:11light-touch regulatory approach that allows innovation to flourish.
04:16That doesn't mean we ignore real problems.
04:18We should enforce our existing antitrust laws if companies are abusing their market power.
04:23We should be on guard against fraud, abuse, and national security threats.
04:27But we don't need a heavy-handed, new regulatory regime to do that.
04:32What we need is to keep the U.S. the best place in the world to build, test, and deploy
04:37AI.
04:39That means making room for new entrants.
04:41It means protecting free speech in the digital age.
04:45And it means making sure American entrepreneurs, not unelected regulators, are the ones shaping
04:52the future of this technology.
04:54AI is a tool.
04:57Whether it helps or harms depends on how we use it and whether we keep the freedom to
05:01innovate, adapt, and compete.
05:03The worst thing we can do is let fear drive us into giving up control to Washington, to
05:08Brussels, or to Beijing.
05:11The American model has always been the best model.
05:13Let's stick to it.
05:14I want to thank the witnesses for appearing before us today, and I look forward to hearing
05:19what each of you has to say.