(NewsNation) — The ever-changing landscape of artificial intelligence is posing a challenge for lawmakers in Congress who are tasked with creating laws and regulations for the industry. To stay ahead, one lawmaker is headed back to school.
Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va., is earning a master’s degree in machine learning from George Mason University in hopes it will give him an edge in understanding the field. The congressman is also faced with balancing the demands of education and his role as a public servant.
“I do miss classes because I haven’t wanted to miss a single vote,” Beyer admitted.
It will take him a while to earn the degree because he can only fit in one course per semester, but he’s enjoying studying.
“I’m one of the people that was doing crossword puzzles and math puzzles,” he said.
Beyer said he’s had a lifelong interest in computers and that when AI emerged as a topic of public interest he wanted to know more, a lot more. Almost all of his fellow students are decades younger; most don’t seem that fazed when they discover their classmate is a congressman, Beyer said.
Before becoming a congressman, Beyer ran a car dealership, which was one of the first of its kind to put up a website as the internet began to grow. He also reads geometry books for fun.
Beyer said he isn’t the only lawmaker who has more of a grasp on AI than typical representatives who usually have an educational background in history or political science.
He noted that Rep. Jay Obernotle, R-Calif., has a master’s in machine learning and a PhD in AI, while Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., was a computer science major at Stanford University and Rep. Bill Foster, D-Ill., has a PhD in physics.
Beyer said his education has made him more impressed and excited about the emerging technology.
“I think it’s going to change our lives in positive ways,” he said. “Just the breakthroughs in medicine every day are astonishing.”
But Beyer recognizes there are downsides, including the possibility the technology will eliminate jobs and things like deep fakes pose challenges to people’s privacy and even to democracy, as they are already emerging as a problem in political advertising.
“Our job in Congress is just to deal with the potential downsides and celebrate the upsides,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.