🧵 Note of appreciation for the senators at today's hearing. There's a reflexive cynicism about congress and tech, the sense that our legislature is simply too slow, too partisan, and too uninformed about the subject matter to govern something as inchoate and quickly evolving as AI. I've indulged in it myself. Today complicated that for me. Senators of both parties asked sharp, technically literate questions in evident good faith. They came across incredibly earnest and serious and curious. They seemed to appreciate that the questions in front of them are among the most consequential any legislature has ever faced. One model I find appealing is that Congress needn't begin w/ a lot of expertise; it needs to be willing to learn, and have a public that shows up to help it (thats you and me) and rewards it for that kind of seriousness. Today seemed like the first part is possible; I think the second part is partly up to the rest of us. I hope this level of thoughtfulness becomes the norm. Thanks to the senators and their staffs, the holy monks of the Hart Building. A few moments that stood out to me: