Ted Cruz Reveals the Biggest Problem With AI Isn't China -- It's This

There’s no shortage of calls for tough regulation on artificial intelligence – even from the technology sector.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai have all joined the chorus for guardrails on the rapidly growing AI field.

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Now, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) is weighing on CNBC’s Squawk Box on May 23 with a unique, but not unfounded take on artificial intelligence oversight – Congress isn’t up to the job but it needs to catch up fast.

“I’m quite nervous about constraining the growth of AI,” Cruz told Squawk Box. "There are real dangers on AI, but most members of Congress don’t understand this issue very well.”

The GOP firebrand then took a shot at the U.S. Senate, which he says is not the most tech-savvy institution in the world – or anywhere, for that matter.

“Look, the median age in the Senate is 142,” he joked. “We don’t understand intelligence very well, let alone artificial intelligence. We shouldn’t ask people who don’t understand AI to regulate it . . . Congress needs to get smarter on AI but do it slowly so we don’t break things.”

Cruz points to the Far East as the biggest reason why federal regulators, Congress and Big Tech need to get AI right.

“What we don’t want is for China to get way ahead of us on AI because government regulators got in the way,” he told CNBC. “But we know we can’t fix this overnight.