The Download: Congress’s AI bills, and Snap’s new AR spectacles
More than 120 bills related to regulating artificial intelligence are currently floating around the US Congress. This flood of bills is indicative of the desperation Congress feels to keep up with the rapid pace of technological improvements.
Because of the way Congress works, the majority of these bills will never make it into law. But simply taking a look at them all can give us insight into policymakers’ current preoccupations: where they think the dangers are, what each party is focusing on, and more broadly, what vision the US is pursuing when it comes to AI and how it should be regulated.
That’s why, with help from the Brennan Center for Justice, we’ve created a tracker with all the AI bills circulating in various committees in Congress right now, to see if there’s anything we can learn from this legislative smorgasbord. Read the full story.
—Scott J Mulligan
Here’s what I made of Snap’s new augmented-reality Spectacles
Snap has announced a new version of its Spectacles: AR glasses that could finally deliver on the promises that devices like Magic Leap, or HoloLens, or even Google Glass, made many years ago.
Our editor-in-chief Mat Honan got to try them out a couple of weeks ago. He found they packed a pretty impressive punch layering visual information and applications directly on their see-through lenses, making objects appear as if they are in the real world—if you don’t mind looking a little goofy, that is. Read Mat’s full thoughts here.
