Florida congressional candidate calls for regulation of AI

Congressional candidate Nicole Locklin, who is running against Florida Republican Mario Diaz-Balart, called for greater government regulation of artificial intelligence, arguing the technology represents a threat to the planet and everyone on it.

"My biggest fear is that we are at a point right now where the tech is surpassing our ability to understand it," Locklin told CBS News Miami's Jim DeFede during an appearance on Facing South Florida. "And that is why we need to slow it down. Not that it's a bad technology inherently, but we cannot let it run wild because the sci-fi, worst-case scenario, is actually a possibility."

Locklin, who until recently was an attorney with an AI company, said one of the reasons she left the industry earlier this year was concern that the technology was developing too quickly.

She said she has seen certain artificial intelligence models increasingly break through safeguards intended to keep them in check.

"They're doing things based on their own volition, based on what they decide is most important, and they kind of forget that humans are in charge," she said.

Locklin said she believes such models could eventually attempt to take control of robotics companies and begin building their own AI infrastructure, becoming increasingly independent.

She said congressional action is urgently needed. Despite calls for Congress to act, the Republican-led House adjourned this week and is not expected to return to Washington until after the November election.

Locklin said too many members of Congress are aligned with people she described as tech oligarchs, including Elon Musk.

"We're moving into an oligarchy, and the tech world is reigning supreme," she said.