Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois wants Americans to believe artificial intelligence is one of the greatest threats facing the nation. According to the Democrat lawmaker, deepfake images are so dangerous that Congress must rush to regulate them before they confuse the public and destabilize society. But events on the Senate floor this week exposed a far more uncomfortable truth: Durbin doesn’t seem to understand the very technology he claims to fear.
Durbin’s concerns about AI aren’t rooted in protecting the public from deception. They appear far more personal. Watching the Illinois senator navigate modern technology is like watching someone demand the country return to dial-up internet because they finally figured out AOL. The digital world has passed him by—and Wednesday’s Senate speech made that painfully obvious.
On Wednesday, Durbin, who currently serves as the Senate minority whip, took to the chamber floor to condemn the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. The senator arrived armed with what he described as a graphic photo depicting the moments before Pretti was killed by ICE agents.
“I’m going to show a photo of that scene, which is graphic,” Durbin said as he raised the image for his colleagues to see. “But I’m afraid it’s necessary to appreciate the horror of the moment.”
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