There might not be a plan

Hello everyone! Before I get into it, let me start by explaining that I'm not a doomer. I think there's a *ton* of good that can come from AI and I hope that we see that in the next few years. But I'm also not an accelerationist, I understand that AI is a risk and, just like any technology, can be just as harmful as helpful. With that out of the way: recently my local congressman (John Moolenaar) had a group get together where he took questions from locals. He is on the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, so he mentioned China a lot. People were asking about tariffs, about the war, about China's EV programs vs ours, ect. His answers were generally okay, he is a politician so he has to spin things a little bit. Then I got a question. I said "I think unless you're Amish or living under a rock, you've no doubt heard about AI, and how it's going to revolutionize the world. We hear from both sides of the aisle and only about the upsides. Like boosting the economy, efficiency ect. But nobody on any major media channel, or any politicians I've seen have really ever discussed in length the possible downsides. I think everyone in this room is cognizant of how it could go badly. So my question is, what conversations are you guys having about AI that the media might not be picking up?" His answer was essentially 'we're not talking about it, we're full steam ahead, we need to beat China' This didn't really set well with everyone in the room who started asking about data centers and how they really haven't sold anybody on the prospect of them. Finally, I was able to double back to him and say "you need to understand why people are weary of this. The government was slow to react to social media, and I think we can all agree that was a mistake. We have an entire generation who are failing their classes and losing critical thinking skills. We're getting regulations now which is great, but that's like putting up the guide rails after the car crash. So you really should be thinking about this as people lose trust in this" His response to reiterate how losing to China was a bad thing, and guide rails would only ruin our chances of winning. That we would figure things out as we went. So, that's the plan guys. He's a member of the House of Representatives, and their plan seems to be "full steam ahead, all gas no breaks, hope we survive the fallout". I'm aware he's only one guy, but I think he represents the mood in Congress pretty well.