Recent Podcasts Explore the Issues of Trust in Communications and the Future of AI Oversight in the U.S.

According to Pulver’s newsletter “The Pulver Report,” the series marks the launch of season two, which investigates the “blueprints for the future of communication.”

Richards’ episode “Restoring Trust in the Voice & Messaging Ecosystems” discusses the current lack of trust within the communications industry as phishing and spoofing has taken a toll on the public.

“The industry, the regulators, everyone is trying to solve this problem both domestically—even internationally,” Richards said. “This is a problem, and the issue is [that] the fraudsters are smart. They are nimble. They adapt to fixes.”

In a conversation surrounding robocalling, Richards noted that the method is a popular, low-cost way to influence victims to offer personal information.

“International law enforcement needs to help because there is at least some recognition that a lot of these call centers doing nefarious things may be in other countries. So, the U.S. can only do so much when they learn about this,” he said.

“As soon as you make a relationship with someone that you know is legitimate, whether it’s a business, an individual, a consumer, add them to your phone book,” Richards concluded, noting it is the best way to build trust.

To watch the full interview, click here.

Government Law & Strategies senior policy advisor and former Congressman Jerry McNerney also sat down with Pulver for an episode exploring artificial intelligence policy.

During his experience in Congress as a member of the AI Caucus, McNerney introduced and passed a bill called the AI and Government Act, which would lend AI expertise to the different government agencies.

McNerney said “there wasn’t too much pushback” from Congress. “However, the level of engagement [in Congress] was a little bit lower than you might have expected this year and last year since the introduction of the new [generative AI] language models.”

While President Biden’s Executive Order on the Safe, Secure and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence, which was announced in October 2023, offered some order to the AI field, McNerney noted that it is not like legislation because it can be overturned at any time thus making it less effective as a long-term solution.

McNerney said, “what we need to do is move forward aggressively to establish AI standards committees…[as] all these aspects need their own standards. I think that’s the best way to move forward.”

Click here to watch the full episode.