The future of technology is here.Congress is not ready yet

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“There are still Many senators don’t even use email—if you don’t even use email, how would you understand some of the other tools? We need those who are running for office to understand these things. “

This is the former congressman and the forthcoming The U.S. Restart: An Idealist’s Guide to Doing Big Things, middle WIRED’s virtual CES headquarters Wednesday. Hurd advocated for cyber security, privacy, and responsible artificial intelligence during his term of office from 2015 to 2021. In a conversation with WIRED this week, he emphasized that the U.S. government and state and local legislatures across the country need to deepen their influence on technology as misinformation, data abuse, and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence in domestic affairs and geopolitics. Bigger.

One year after the Congressional uprising on January 6, 2021, Hurd stated that the United States is not prepared to deal with misinformation spreading on social media platforms and inciting violence more than 12 months ago.

“I don’t think we are better prepared to prevent this kind of rebellion from happening, and if it does happen, we are not better prepared to respond,” he told WIRED. “When it comes to congressional research and providing insights on how to use these tools, we haven’t seen much progress from there. The partisan struggle is too big. … We can’t tell how these tools are used. Enrage people to engage in calm conversations.”

Hurd believes that the platform needs to continue to expand its community standards and enforcement policies. He discussed the importance of a clear and fair accountability policy, which may be similar to the standards of journalists and television networks. He emphasized the challenge of the United States in dealing with misinformation and conspiracy theories because they have occupied so much public discourse.

“This information and these misinformation, false information and outright lies are being pushed and amplified by society, so a few elected officials will ultimately not solve this broader problem,” he said. “We need to educate people on how to use these tools and be able to distinguish fact from fiction.”

Hurd said that the risks are high whether in the United States or on the international stage. He pointed out that adversaries such as China and Russia are good at weaponizing misinformation directed at the American public and fueling the flames of conspiracy theories.

“Our opponents are using some of these rifts to lower our position in the rest of the world,” he said.

Of course, Hurd pointed out that unless Congress can overcome its ideological polarization to deliver legislation that was passed long ago, it is almost impossible to make any necessary changes. If the United States moves so slowly on social media platforms that have existed for more than a decade, then it does not seem to be ready for the upcoming challenges, from meta-universe to cryptocurrency to ubiquitous artificial intelligence.

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