Shapiro calls for AI regulation

The governor appeared at an artificial intelligence summit in the East End.

By JAMES ENGEL
TribLive

Gov. Josh Shapiro called for the government to regulate artificial intelligence development — and criticized federal leaders and some AI companies — during a keynote address Thursday at an industry summit in Pittsburgh’s East End.

But many at the AI Horizons Pittsburgh Summit, a two-day event in the city’s Bakery Square complex, told TribLive they don’t see a reason to slow AI development — or for the feds to step in.

The speech comes in the wake of recent concerns about the pace of AI development after a former Anthropic and OpenAI employee quit over safety concerns and another said he worried AI would “kill all humans” within a decade amid several instances of models seemingly going rogue.

Leaders of Anthropic and OpenAI — two of the leading AI labs — have, in turn, called for a slowdown in development.

While he said AI development may require more monitoring, West Virginia entrepreneur James Carnes said the companies should be left to police themselves. He said that he believed federal regulations would hamper growth.

“Anytime there’s new technology, there’s going to be risks,” said Carnes, co-founder of Iconic Air, which helps oil and gas companies track carbon emissions.

So far, he said rogue AI models hadn’t done any real damage, and he believed misinformation about AI was a major factor in the fear surrounding the technology.

Steve Yuschock, a manager with fiber-optic firm DQE who said he was not speaking for the company, told TribLive he believed recent apocalyptic fears about AI were more hype than reality.

He, too, said the government stepping in could slow progress and create unintended consequences.

“It’s worse for government to regulate,” Yuschock said.

Though he continued to push for AI development in Pennsylvania, Shapiro said that development had to be done in a “responsible, safe and ethical” way.

He attempted to chart a middle path that would see government regulators scrutinizing “frontier models,” which are the latest, unreleased versions of AI models, while allowing a fast-paced development to continue.

He compared it to the government’s oversight of the pharmaceutical and aerospace industries.

“We need the federal government to establish the rules of the road,” he said. “We can’t kick the can down the road anymore.” But Andrew Wyatt, co-founder of AI-powered media monitoring firm Delve, said he only believed govern – ment regulators should step in if companies failed to set up their own guardrails.

He likened potential govern – ment regulators to Transporta – tion Security Administration (TSA) agents at an airport, who he said slow a process airline companies could better manage themselves.

As for an AI apocalypse, he said he thinks the world’s technology software was too fragmented for AI models to cause any major damage in the short-term.

“I think it’s easy to latch on to ‘I think AI is going to kill us all’ as a message,” Wyatt said.

Some – including Shapiro – have framed AI development as a race against China and expressed fears that a lull in development would yield the upper-hand to Chinese developers in a competition with enormous geopolitical conse quences. Shapiro again said Thurs – day: “We need to beat China on AI” – but said the United States should seek to build an “international consensus” on development with the Chinese and others.

The proposed entente, he said, should begin next week when Chinese President Xi Jinping visits the United States.

The governor – up for election in November and widely viewed as a 2028 Democratic presidential contender – re – peatedly criticized President Donald Trump and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who he said “abdicated his responsibility to lead” by adjourning the House early Thursday, for their reluctance so far to regulate the AI industry.

Trump recently called con – cerns around AI a “hoax” on social media, saying the only guardrail needed was a “STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT.” White House spokesman Liz Huston said in a statement to TribLive that the U.S. leads the world in AI innovation, and the president plans to keep it that way.

“The Trump Administration is committed to unleashing American innovation, sup – porting the safe and success – ful deployment of the world’s most advanced AI models, and protecting our national securi –

ty,” the statement said.

Still, some of the conference’s attendees pushed back on the pace of AI development.

Eser Saydam, a senior system engineer manager at cloud computing firm Nutanix, said he was hoping for more assur – ance than just the president’s intellect.

“I think we’re moving too quickly,” Saydam said. “It seems reckless.” Based in Philadelphia, Say – dam said he believes regula – tion is a “balancing act” with potentially being overtaken by foreign AI competitors. But, he said, there’s little the U.S. can ultimately do to curb Chinese development.

“You have to take care of your own house,” he said.

Ameena Elahi, assistant director of AI initiatives at Penn Medicine, said she, too, erred toward caution.

Also based in Philadelphia, she said much of the new development was “exciting but really scary.” “We can’t rush to it at the expense of people,” Elahi said.

Shapiro – a longtime proponent of AI – moved last month to place restrictions on data center development, an overwhelmingly unpopular issue among Pennsylvania voters.

In a statement released after his address, Shapiro’s Repub – lican gubernatorial opponent Stacy Garrity called Shapiro’s calls for regulation “a shameless flip flop,” citing his history of support for the AI and data center industries.

“Now Josh Shapiro is reversing course again, calling for new guardrails on AI develop – ment to better position himself to run for President,” Garrity’s statement said.

Recent polling showed Shapiro with a 16-point lead over Garrity, who supports a pause on future data center development but previously said she would not seek to regulate the industry at the state level.

O’Connor touts AI

Earlier in the day, Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor appeared on a panel where he touted AI development as both an economic boon for the city and a potentially ground – breaking technology for local government.

But aside from permitting and potholes, it’s unclear how the rapidly advancing tech would change things at the City-County Building.

It could, however, bring much-needed funds into city coffers, O’Connor said.

“If you’re from Pittsburgh, you know we’re strapped for cash,” the mayor told the crowd. “We want to expose Pittsburgh and use Pittsburgh.” Earlier this month, city officials announced Pittsburgh’s budget deficit could balloon to more than $30 million by the end of the year.

The panel included corporate leaders from chip giant Nvidia and professional services firm Ernst and Young.

O’Connor said one of his main goals is keeping tech firms in Pittsburgh – and drawing in new ones. The mayor said he calls several businesses a week to pitch the city.