Josh Shapiro wades into AI debate with call for ‘strict guardrails’

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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Thursday called for greater federal regulation of artificial intelligence while criticizing President Donald Trump for minimizing concerns , saying “We cannot ignore the warning signs nor downplay the very real risks.”

“I am not a doomer. I don’t think that it is inevitable that AI is going to take over the world, or that someone will misuse it to kill us or to do harm,” Shapiro said at an AI summit in Pittsburgh on Thursday. “But I do have real concerns, as do many Pennsylvanians and many Americans, and I don’t think that the very real concerns of our neighbors that they overwhelmingly express about this technology is a hoax, as our president has called it.”

Debate about whether to regulate the rapidly advancing technology has escalated amid calls from industry leaders to slow down AI development. Democrats eyeing potential White House runs in 2028, like Shapiro, are grappling with how to approach AI amid increased concerns about the technology’s progress, and President Barack Obama recently encouraged those considering running for president in the coming years to prioritize AI policy in their forthcoming agendas.

Shapiro called for the federal government to “develop strict guardrails” on AI, including third party oversight of frontier models, greater transparency in the development process, and safety prioritization.

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The real reason why Donald Trump is so furiously against AI guardrails

The governor also pushed for building international consensus on regulating the technology, arguing Trump should prioritize discussing “practical guardrails to reduce risks to the American people” in his conversations with China’s President Xi Jinping next week. He criticized Speaker Mike Johnson for sending the House into recess without action on AI.

Trump has pushed back on calls for greater government regulation, calling concerns about AI a “HOAX” and part of a “sick conspiracy.” On the other end of the spectrum, Sen. Bernie Sanders has called for a ban on superintelligence that could subvert human control.

In his speech, Shapiro sought to strike a middle ground, saying “There’s something in between accelerating and ignoring the road ahead and slamming on the brakes and refusing to move forward.”

Shapiro delivered the speech several weeks after issuing an executive order aimed at limiting AI-generating data centers in Pennsylvania by ending fast-track approvals and establishing new development requirements. That move came one year after Shapiro touted Amazon’s $20 billion investment in data centers in the state and stated his administration was “all in on AI.”

As frustration over data centers has risen, Shapiro has run data center focused attack ads against his GOP opponent Stacy Garrity in this year’s governor’s race, calling her “Pennsylvania’s number one fan of data centers.” Garrity has pushed back with her own spot, though on a much smaller spending scale, calling out Shapiro’s initial embrace of Amazon’s investments.

In his speech Thursday, Shapiro also called out those within the AI industry potentially working to thwart regulation efforts going forward.

“Some of those same companies who have been calling for regulation in public have been funding the groups in private who have been fighting against it,” he said. “They don’t get to claim the moral high ground by saying one thing publicly and doing another thing privately, because people are pretty smart. They can see right through that.”

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宾夕法尼亚州州长乔什·夏皮罗周四呼吁加强联邦政府对人工智能的监管，同时批评唐纳德·特朗普总统淡化相关担忧，他说：“我们不能忽视警告信号，也不能轻视非常真实的风险。”

“我不是个悲观主义者。我不认为人工智能必然会统治世界，或者有人会滥用它来杀害我们或作恶，”沙皮罗周四在匹兹堡举行的人工智能峰会上说。“但我确实感到担忧，就像许多宾夕法尼亚州居民和许多美国人一样。我不认为我们邻居们对这项技术的普遍担忧是骗局，就像我们的总统所说的那样。”

关于是否应该对这项快速发展的技术进行监管的争论愈演愈烈，与此同时，行业领袖们呼吁放缓人工智能的发展速度。像夏皮罗这样有意在2028年竞选总统的民主党人，正在努力思考如何在人们日益担忧人工智能技术发展的情况下应对这一问题。此外，奥巴马总统最近也鼓励那些考虑在未来几年竞选总统的人，将人工智能政策列入他们即将制定的议程的优先事项。

沙皮罗呼吁联邦政府对人工智能“制定严格的保障措施”，包括对前沿模型进行第三方监督、提高开发过程的透明度以及优先考虑安全问题。

朱莉娅·德马雷·尼金森/美联社

唐纳德·特朗普如此强烈反对人工智能安全防护措施的真正原因

州长还敦促国际社会就人工智能技术监管达成共识，并认为特朗普下周与中国国家主席习近平会谈时，应优先讨论“切实可行的保障措施，以降低对美国人民的风险”。他还批评众议院议长迈克·约翰逊在未就人工智能问题采取任何行动的情况下就让众议院休会。

特朗普一直反对加强政府监管的呼吁，称对人工智能的担忧是“骗局”，是“一场邪恶的阴谋”。而参议员伯尼·桑德斯则持相反观点，呼吁禁止可能颠覆人类控制的超级智能。

沙皮罗在演讲中试图找到一个折衷方案，他说：“在加速前进、无视前方道路和猛踩刹车、拒绝前进之间，还有另一种选择。”

沙皮罗发表这番讲话的几周前，他刚刚发布一项行政命令，旨在通过终止快速审批程序和制定新的开发要求来限制宾夕法尼亚州的人工智能数据中心建设。而就在一年前，沙皮罗还曾大力宣传亚马逊在该州数据中心投资200亿美元，并声称他的政府“全力投入人工智能”。

随着人们对数据中心的不满情绪日益高涨，沙皮罗在今年的州长竞选中，针对共和党对手斯泰西·加里蒂投放了大量攻击性广告，矛头直指数据中心，称她是“宾夕法尼亚州头号数据中心拥趸”。加里蒂也以广告予以回击，尽管投入远不及沙皮罗，但她抨击沙皮罗最初对亚马逊投资的支持。

沙皮罗在周四的演讲中还点名批评了人工智能行业内那些可能试图阻挠未来监管工作的人。

他说：“有些公司公开呼吁加强监管，但私下里却资助那些反对监管的团体。他们不能一边公开一套，一边私下做一套，以此来标榜自己站在道德制高点上，因为人们都很聪明，一眼就能看穿他们的伎俩。”