Musk, Zuckerberg sit near each other as US lawmakers grill Big Tech on AI

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Meta Founder and CEO were seen sitting at little distance from each other during a meeting on the Capitol Hill

New York: In a rare appearance, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Meta Founder and CEO were seen sitting at little distance from each other during a meeting on the Capitol Hill on Wednesday as the duo, along with other Big Tech leaders, faced questioning from the US lawmakers on their plans to build responsible AI.

US Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic majority leader of Senate, called the closed-door meeting as the US prepares for a legislation to control technology in the ChatGPT era.

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Musk told reporters that it is important to have a referee or a regulator to ensure that “companies take actions that are safe and in the general interest of the public”.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai were also present in the meeting.

“We begin an enormous and complex and vital undertaking: Building a foundation for bipartisan AI policy that Congress can pass,” Schumer said at the meeting.

“With AI, we can’t be like ostriches sticking our heads in the sand,” the Senator said.