Elon Musk and Palantir co-founder & CEO Alex Karp attend a bipartisan Artificial Intelligence (AI) Insight Forum for all U.S. senators hosted by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., September 13, 2023.
Leah Millis | Reuters
Tech CEOs descended on Capitol Hill Wednesday to speak with senators about artificial intelligence as lawmakers consider how to craft guardrails for the powerful technology.
It was a meeting that “may go down in history as being very important for the future of civilization,” billionaire tech executive Elon Musk told CNBC’s Eamon Javers and other reporters as he left the meeting.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., hosted the panel of tech executives, labor and civil rights leaders as part of the Senate’s inaugural “AI Insight Forum.” Sens. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Todd Young, R-Ind., helped organize the event and have worked with Schumer on other sessions educating lawmakers on AI.
Top tech executives in attendance Wednesday included:
The panel, attended by more than 60 senators, according to Schumer, took place behind closed doors. Schumer said the closed forum allowed for an open discussion among the attendees, without the normal time and format restrictions of a public hearing. But Schumer said some future forums would be open to public view.
Top U.S. technology leaders including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna and former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates take their seats for the start of a bipartisan Artificial Intelligence (AI) Insight Forum for all U.S. senators hosted by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., September 13, 2023.
Leah Millis | Reuters
The panel also featured several other stakeholders representing labor, civil rights and the creative industry. Among those were leaders like:
Motion Picture Association Chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler
Writers Guild President Meredith Steihm
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten
Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights President and CEO Maya Wiley
After the morning session, the AFL-CIO’s Shuler told reporters that the meeting was a unique chance to bring together a wide range of voices.
In response to a question about getting to speak with Musk, Shuler said, “I think it was just an opportunity to be in each other’s space, but we don’t often cross paths and so to bring a worker’s voice and perspective into the room with tech executives, with advocates, with lawmakers is a really unusual place to be.”
“It was a very civilized discussion actually among some of the smartest people in the world,” Musk told reporters on his way out. “Sen. Schumer did a great service to humanity here along with the support of the rest of the Senate. And I think something good will come of this.”
Google’s Pichai outlined four areas where Congress could play an important role in AI development, according to his prepared remarks. First by crafting policies that support innovation, including through research and development investment or immigration laws that incentivize talented workers to come to the U.S. Second, “by driving greater use of AI in government,” third by applying AI to big problems like detecting cancer, and finally by “advancing a workforce transition agenda that benefits everyone.”
Google CEO Sundar Pichai, arrives for a US Senate bipartisan Artificial Intelligence (AI) Insight Forum at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on September 13, 2023.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images
Meta’s Zuckerberg said he sees safety and access as the “two defining issues for AI,” according to his prepared remarks. He said Meta is being “deliberate about how we roll out these products,” by openly publishing research, partnering with academics and setting policies for how its AI models can be used.
He touted Meta’s open-source AI work as a way to ensure broad access to the technology. Still, he said, “we’re not zealots about this. We don’t open source everything. We think closed models are good too, but we also think a more open approach creates more value in many cases.”
Working toward legislation
Schumer said in his prepared remarks that the event marked the beginning of “an enormous and complex and vital undertaking: building a foundation for bipartisan AI policy that Congress can pass.”
There’s broad interest in Washington in creating guardrails for AI, but so far many lawmakers have said they want to learn more about the technology before figuring out the appropriate restrictions.
But Schumer told reporters after the morning session that legislation should come in a matter of months, not years.
“If you go too fast, you could ruin things,” Schumer said. “The EU went too fast, and now they have to go back. So what we’re saying is, on a timeline, it can’t be days or weeks, but nor should it be years. It will be in the general category of months.”
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) addresses a press conference during a break in a bipartisan Artificial Intelligence (AI) Insight Forum for all U.S. senators at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, September 13, 2023.
Julia Nikhinson | Reuters
Schumer said he expects the actual legislation to come through the committees. This session provides the necessary foundation for them to do this work, he said. Successful legislation will need to be bipartisan, Schumer added, saying he’d spoken with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who was “encouraging.”
Schumer said he’d asked everyone in the room Wednesday if they believe government needs to play a role in regulating AI, and everyone raised their hand.
The broad group that attended the morning session did not get into detail about whether a licensing regime or some other model would be most appropriate, Schumer said, adding that it would be discussed further in the afternoon session. Still, he said, they heard a variety of opinions on whether a “light touch” was the right approach to regulation and whether a new or existing agency should oversee AI.
Young said those in the room agreed that U.S. values should inform the development of AI, rather than those of the Chinese Communist Party.
While Schumer has led this effort for a broad legislative framework, he said his colleagues need not wait to craft bills for their ideas about AI regulation. But putting together sensible legislation that can also pass will take time.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., who leads the Commerce Committee, predicted lawmakers could get AI legislation “done in the next year.” She referenced the Chips and Science Act, a bipartisan law that set aside funding for semiconductor manufacturing, as an example of being able to pass important technology legislation fairly quickly.
“This is the hardest thing that I think we have ever undertaken,” Schumer told reporters. “But we can’t be like ostriches and put our head in the sand. Because if we don’t step forward, things will be a lot worse.”
The Trump administration has floated a plan to trim about $6 billion from the budget of NASA, while allocating $1 billion of remaining funds to Mars-focused initiatives, aligning with an ambition long held by Elon Musk and his rocket maker SpaceX.
A copy of the discretionary budget posted to the NASA website on Friday said that the change focuses NASA’s funding on “beating China back to the Moon and on putting the first human on Mars.”
NASA also said it will need to “streamline” its workforce, information technology services, NASA Center operations, facility maintenance, and construction and environmental compliance activities, and terminate multiple “unaffordable” missions, while reducing scientific missions for the sake of “fiscal responsibility.”
Janet Petro, NASA’s acting administrator, said in an agency-wide email on Friday that the proposed lean budget, which would cut about 25% of the space agency’s funding, “reflects the administration’s support for our mission and sets the stage for our next great achievements.”
Petro urged NASA employees to “persevere, stay resilient, and lean into the discipline it takes to do things that have never been done before — especially in a constrained environment,” according to the memo, which was obtained by CNBC. She acknowledged the budget would “require tough choices,” and that some of NASA’s “activities will wind down.”
The document on NASA’s website said it’s allocating more than $7 billion for moon exploration and “introducing $1 billion in new investments for Mars-focused programs.”
SpaceX, which is already among the largest NASA and Department of Defense contractors, has long sought to launch a manned mission to Mars. The company says on its website that its massive Starship rocket is designed to “carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.”
Musk, who is the founder and CEO of SpaceX, has a central role in President Donald Trump’s administration, leading an effort to slash the size, spending and capacity of the federal government, and influencing regulatory changes through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Musk, who frequently makes aggressive and incorrect projections for his companies, said in 2020 that he was “highly confident” that SpaceX would land humans on Mars by 2026.
Petro highlighted in her memo that under the discretionary budget, NASA would retire the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, the Orion spacecraft and Gateway programs.
It would also put an end to its green aviation spending and to its Mars Sample Return (MSR) Program, which sought to use rockets and robotic systems to “collect and send samples of Martian rocks, soils and atmosphere back to Earth for detailed chemical and physical analysis,” according to a website for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Some of the biggest reductions at NASA, should the budget get approved, would hit the space agency’s space science, Earth science and mission support divisions.
Petro didn’t name any specific aerospace and defense contractors in her agency-wide email. However SpaceX, ULA and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are positioned to continue to conduct launches in the absence of the SLS. Boeing is currently the prime contractor leading the SLS program.
“This is far from the first time NASA has been asked to adapt, and your ability to deliver, even under pressure, is what sets NASA apart,” she wrote.
President Trump’s nominee to lead NASA, tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, still has to be approved by the U.S. Senate. His nomination was advanced out of the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday.
Chinese bargain retailer Temu changed its business model in the U.S. as the Trump administration’s new rules on low-value shipments took effect Friday.
In recent days, Temu has abruptly shifted its website and app to only display listings for products shipped from U.S.-based warehouses. Items shipped directly from China, which previously blanketed the site, are now labeled as out of stock.
Temu made a name for itself in the U.S. as a destination for ultra-discounted items shipped direct from China, such as $5 sneakers and $1.50 garlic presses. It’s been able to keep prices low because of the so-called de minimis rule, which has allowed items worth $800 or less to enter the country duty-free since 2016.
The loophole expired Friday at 12:01 a.m. EDT as a result of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in April. Trump briefly suspended the de minimis rule in February before reinstating the provision days later as customs officials struggled to process and collect tariffs on a mountain of low-value packages.
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The end of de minimis, as well as Trump’s new 145% tariffs on China, has forced Temu to raise prices, suspend its aggressive online advertising push and now alter the selection of goods available to American shoppers to circumvent higher levies.
A Temu spokesperson confirmed to CNBC that all sales in the U.S. are now handled by local sellers and said they are fulfilled “from within the country.” Temu said pricing for U.S. shoppers “remains unchanged.”
“Temu has been actively recruiting U.S. sellers to join the platform,” the spokesperson said. “The move is designed to help local merchants reach more customers and grow their businesses.”
Before the change, shoppers who attempted to purchase Temu products shipped from China were confronted with “import charges” of between 130% and 150%. The fees often cost more than the individual item and more than doubled the price of many orders.
Temu advertises that local products have “no import charges” and “no extra charges upon delivery.”
The company, which is owned by Chinese e-commerce giant PDD Holdings, has gradually built up its inventory in the U.S. over the past year in anticipation of escalating trade tensions and the removal of de minimis.
Shein, which has also benefited from the loophole, moved to raise prices last week. The fast-fashion retailer added a banner at checkout that says, “Tariffs are included in the price you pay. You’ll never have to pay extra at delivery.”
Many third-party sellers on Amazon rely on Chinese manufacturers to source or assemble their products. The company’s Temu competitor, called Amazon Haul, has relied on de minimis to ship products priced at $20 or less directly from China to the U.S.
Amazon said Tuesday following a dustup with the White House that had it considered showing tariff-related costs on Haul products ahead of the de minimis cutoff but that it has since scrapped those plans.
Prior to Trump’s second term in office, the Biden administration had also looked to curtail the provision. Critics of the de minimis provision argue that it harms American businesses and that it facilitates shipments of fentanyl and other illicit substances because, they say, the packages are less likely to be inspected by customs agents.
Jeff Bezos, founder and executive chairman of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post, takes the stage during The New York Times’ annual DealBook Summit, at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, Dec. 4, 2024.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos plans to sell up to 25 million shares in the company over the next year, according to a financial filing on Friday.
Bezos, who stepped down as CEO in 2021 but remains Amazon’s top shareholder, is selling the shares as part of a trading plan adopted on March 4, the filing states. The stake would be worth about $4.8 billion at the current price.
The disclosure follows Amazon’s first-quarter earnings report late Thursday. While profit and revenue topped estimates, the company’s forecast for operating income in the current quarter came in below Wall Street’s expectations.
The results show that Amazon is bracing for uncertainty related to President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs. The company landed in the crosshairs of the White House this week over a report that Amazon planned to show shoppers the cost of the tariffs. Trump personally called Bezos to complain, and Amazon clarified that no such change was coming.
Bezos previously offloaded about $13.5 billion worth of Amazon shares last year, marking his first sale of company stock since 2021.
Since handing over the Amazon CEO role to Andy Jassy, Bezos has spent more of his time on his space exploration company, Blue Origin, and his $10 billion climate and biodiversity fund. He’s used Amazon share sales to help fund Blue Origin, as well as the Day One Fund, which he launched in September 2018 to provide education in low-income communities and combat homelessness.