Abstract Sessions: Can AI Climb Capitol Hill?

“Now, with the advent of AI getting to the point where everything seems so instantaneous [that] my biggest concern moving forward is that there’s going to be a lot of hastily written legislation with not as much deliberation…”

Today, nearly every industry vertical is being impacted by AI — the modern-day “internet boom.” In this week's episode, Abstract Co-Founder & CEO Patricio Utz sits down with Don Polese, who has spent a third of a century on and off Capitol Hill. Acting as a Managing Partner at Vectis Strategies, Don has split his time between the east and west coasts, and for the past six years, he has been leading Vectis’ DC team in Georgetown. Having worked as a high-level Congressional staffer for several years, Don provides key insights during his conversation with Pat about what is happening on Capitol Hill, particularly regarding the current dialogue around Artificial Intelligence and its use cases.

It’s no surprise that managing the risks posed by introducing youthful AI technology is, and will continue to be, a top priority for Congressional teams. From the Hill’s point of view, it is clear that premature adoption of AI may lead to “hastily written legislation with insufficient deliberation and consideration of the legislation’s impact.” The stakes are high, and innovation cannot supersede integrity.

While AI is bound to be adopted more heavily by the federal government in the future, its introduction into everyday workflows has been extremely gradual. When asked how he has seen AI being adopted by Congressional staffers so far, Don notes that he has yet to see “a direct impact of AI on the work of congressional staffers… they are being very careful at this point. Especially as their bosses are active in developing…regulatory safeguards and risk management [for AI tools].” In short, Congress is in the midst of navigating new AI technology and determining how best to integrate it into the legislative process.