Warren, Bennet, Graham, Welch, Urge Leader Schumer to Support New Agency to Regulate Digital Platforms

Letter

Dear Majority Leader Schumer:
You opened last fall's Artificial Intelligence (AI) Insight Forum series with a declaration that
"[g]overnment must play a role in requiring . . . safeguards" to "make AI systems more
accountable, transparent, and secure." Despite differences across forum participants, the
conversations made clear that we must meet the transformative challenge of AI with a thoughtful
and effective regulatory framework.

We believe this moment requires a new federal agency to protect consumers, promote
competition, and defend the public interest. We have introduced legislation to create this new
enforcement authority and put the American people in negotiation with the largest technology
firms. Our Digital Platform Commission Act (from Senators Bennet and Welch) and Digital
Consumer Protection Commission Act (from Senators Graham and Warren) would finally
establish democratic oversight of Big Tech companies that dominate our society and economy.

Piecemeal efforts to regulate technology have failed. Over the past fifteen years, social media
platforms have wreaked havoc on our children's mental health, undermined user privacy, and
distorted market incentives. Big Tech companies have exploited powerful network effects to
secure an unassailable market position--allowing them to scoop up promising competitors, set
crippling terms of service for third parties, and strip-mine Americans' private data.

Big Tech companies have provided new vehicles for drug trafficking, harassment, and the sexual
abuse and exploitation of children. Time and again, they have allowed disturbing content to
proliferate unchecked across their platforms, amplified by hyper-aggressive algorithms.
American families are faced with the fallout: a rise in eating disorders, anxiety, depression, and
teen suicide.

Now, these same companies stand to benefit from the rapid development and deployment of AI.
Although this technology has the potential to improve productivity and lead to new scientific
breakthroughs, AI tools also threaten to exacerbate existing harms--threatening the well-being
of our children and stifling economic competition. Your fora have made clear that Congress mustregulate AI on behalf of the American people. But it would be a mistake to fixate on AI and
ignore the broader threats posed by this industry as a whole. Narrow legislative fixes will not
solve problems endemic to the digital sector.

When confronted with the emergence of complex, risk-prone industries, Congress has often
elected to create regulatory bodies to address the challenges facing the American people. In
1906, for example, Congress established the Food and Drug Administration after revelations of
unsafe factory standards. In 1934, Congress created the Federal Communications Commission as
new telecommunication technologies like radio, television, and the telephone connected the
country. In 1958, at the outset of the Jet Age, Congress founded the Federal Aviation
Administration. In each case, Congress tapped experts to address the evolving threats posed by
new industries, forming specialized agencies to oversee complicated new sectors of the
economy.

The same approach is necessary here. Isolated policies targeting individual concerns such as
privacy, national security, competition, or online safety will lead to unnecessary enforcement
gaps. Parceling out oversight to various agencies will result in a fragmented regulatory landscape
ripe for exploitation by companies with market caps greater than many countries' gross domestic
product. Today's challenge calls for a dedicated and nimble agency that is able to keep measured
pace with the speed of innovation, supporting safe development without stifling it.

At an inflection point such as ours, we should not squander this opportunity to establish real
oversight over the largest technology companies. Congress must create a new agency with the
resources and meaningful enforcement authority to regulate these firms in a comprehensive,
considered, and continuous manner. We can successfully mitigate the risks of AI while
simultaneously addressing the harms American families and businesses experience every day in
our digital world.

We are grateful for your leadership and look forward to working with you on this essential
project.

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