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OREM — Despite his role as Utah's attorney general, Sean Reyes wants you to know that he has plenty of background in the tech sector.
Before he became attorney general, Reyes spent years as a lawyer for various tech clients, general counsel for a tech and entertainment company and served as a partner with Accelerate Ventures where artificial intelligence was often used.
Reyes never left that part of himself behind and since becoming attorney general, he says he has founded a global technology conference, worked on local and national technology and law policy (including AI policy), filed cases to protect the innovation sector and pioneered law enforcement tech initiatives, "including the use of AI to take down predators and to rescue and empower victims and survivors."
Reyes on Thursday spoke at the first annual Silicon Slopes Artificial Intelligence Summit on the campus of Utah Valley University.
To frame his discussion around the rise of AI, Reyes deployed an allegory rooted in Greek mythology. The story he told was of Prometheus, the god of fire who went to war with the Olympian gods after he stole fire from them to give to humanity in the form of knowledge, technology and civilization.
To punish Prometheus, the gods of Olympus chained him to a rock and had a magical bird of prey eat the liver out of his body every day, with the cycle repeating day after day.
"Unfortunately today, like Prometheus, many founders, tech entrepreneurs and investors ... risk their time, capital and their reputations sacrificing much to bring fire or technology to mankind and improve our society," Reyes said. "But too often, the government acts like the jealous gods of Olympus. Many times with good intentions, lawmakers try to reign in technology, but in the process, stifle innovation."
He said that many times, laws and policies passed by lawmakers aren't able to keep up with the rapid pace of tech innovation.
"Too often, bad laws written by good policymakers who don't understand tech and then enforced by regulators who fear or misunderstand tech lead to investigations, lawsuits, fines," Reyes said.
He equated this "regulatory nightmare" to Prometheus' fate of being strapped to a rock and "tortured over and over again."
Like fire, he said, AI can be used for a myriad of positive functions while also being able to be harnessed for bad.
The good end of the spectrum includes applications in health and medical, financial, industrial and even creative sectors. On the other end, AI can be used to deceive through things like deep fake images and audio, spread misinformation and leverage social media to recruit and indoctrinate people into extremist viewpoints.
"From a legal and law enforcement standpoint, think about the challenges we have and will continue to grapple with dealing with the reliability of evidence," Reyes said. "Even before government steps in, the private sector absolutely has a responsibility to address these issues. If we don't architect into the DNA of AI's certain safeguards, we will be too far behind and always playing catch-up like we've been with social (media)."
For Reyes, the balancing act of protecting humanity from AI while also harnessing its positive applications is a delicate one.
"AI can be a great force for good. It also has incredible potential for creating chaos and destruction," Reyes said. "We need the technology industry to continue to find ways to mitigate the downside and maximize the upside of AI. ... We need responsible AI regulation and enforcement from the government. ... We need you, who are experts and industry proponents, to actively be engaged in educating legislators and policymakers ... so we don't treat AI innovators like Prometheus, strapped to a rock.
"So we don't kill the fire of AI, but rather harness it to build and protect, rather than to devour and destroy," he said.
