Specific federal regulations will be necessary to manage the advanced capabilities of artificial intelligence, according to a Tennessee Tech Computer Science expert.
Professor Dr. William Eberle said current government authority is limited to enforcing laws against deceptive practices, antitrust violations, and traditional crimes. Eberle said the unique nature of AI requires Congress to establish comprehensive statutes that define technical thresholds and clear boundaries for what these systems are permitted to do.
“Who’s liable for what an AI produces?” Eberle said. “Is it the person who created it, the company who owns it, or the service that’s providing it? And again, what is the crime that’s actually being comitted?”
Eberle said the challenge for lawmakers involves creating restrictions that protect the public without stopping research that keeps the United States competitive with other nations. He said generic laws enforced by the Federal Trade Commission are not specific enough to regulate a technology that functions differently than any previous software.
President Trump and lawmakers expressed disagreement this week on what is needed.
“But there’s really not much it’s going to require Congress to really starting to get into the limitations of what what AI is,” Eberle said. “Because the AIs, and I’m using that in a very broad sense, are not committing haven’t committed any crimes.”
Eberle said the federal government currently regulates AI through executive orders that dictate how agencies use the technology within their own operations. He said a legislative approach is needed to address complex questions regarding who is liable for the content or actions an AI produces.
“If you really want to if you want to do that and you want to regulate what AI can is allowed to be produced and doing, then you’re going to have to you’re going to have to be more specific to the problem of AI because it is a different technology than we’ve had in the past,” Eberle said.
Eberle said the rapid acceleration of large language models and chatbots over the last several years has made the technology easily accessible to the general public. He said while some industry leaders have expressed concerns about the speed of development, the focus for most people should be on learning to use the tools responsibly.
“But I think that we if we can look at AI as a benefit to society as a tool to make our lives better and we strive to build the AI that will meet the human needs and be responsible and safe and trustworthy, I think I think the frontier is just incredibly exciting right now,” Eberle said.
