Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg come face to face at Senate meeting
Washington DC - In the end, it was Capitol Hill, not the Roman Colosseum, where Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg finally met, as the two tech titans showed up to share their plans for artificial intelligence amid plans to draw up legislation to regulate the booming industry.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has planned a series of "AI Innovation forums," closed door meetings where lawmakers can quiz tech leaders about the technology that has taken the world by storm since the release of ChatGPT last year.
"Today, we begin an enormous and complex and vital undertaking: building a foundation for bipartisan AI policy that Congress can pass," Schumer told the meeting, according to remarks shared with the media.
The forum is the first known face-to-face encounter between Musk and Zuckerberg, who have taken their rivalry up a notch this year, teasing a cage fight to settle their scores.
OpenAI CEO and ChatGPT creator Sam Altman and Microsoft founder Bill Gates were also attending the event, which was closed to the press.
Republicans blast closed-door meeting
Whether the US congress can pass legislation to curb AI innovators with clear rules remains an open question, given the deep political divisions in Washington.
While both sides agree that tech can have very negative consequences on everyday life, the parties often differ on what the solutions might be.
Tech companies also lobby hard to maintain a light touch regulatory regime that is pro-business.
Some senators complained that the meeting was closed to the public and gave too much leeway to tech giants to influence lawmakers.
"This is not how it should be," far-right Republican Senator Josh Hawley said. "Senator Schumer has talked about tech for two years now and he hasn't put a single significant tech bill on the floor."
Cover photo: Collage: CHIP SOMODEVILLA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP & Stefani Reynolds / AFP