By Diane Bartz

WASHINGTON Moderate Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have formed a working group on artificial intelligence aimed at tackling the issue of what restrictions, if any, should be put on the technology.

The New Democrat Coalition announced the formation of the group on Tuesday, saying it would work with the Biden administration, companies and other lawmakers to develop "sensible, bipartisan policies to address this emerging technology."

While artificial intelligence has been used for several years, it surged in popularity earlier this year with the rise of ChatGPT because of generative AI's ability to use data to create human-seeming prose. Lawmakers are assessing ways to mitigate the potential harms - particularly to national security - while taking advantage of its strengths.

The group is to be headed by Representative Derek Kilmer, a Democrat from Washington state.

Vice chairs are Representatives Don Beyer of Virginia, Jeff Jackson from North Carolina, Sara Jacobs of California, Susie Lee of Nevada and Haley Stevens from Michigan.

In July, the White House announced that AI companies including OpenAI, Alphabet and Meta Platforms had made voluntary commitments to implement measures such as watermarking AI-generated content to help make the technology safer.

In the Senate, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said last month that lawmakers would hear from developers, executives and experts later this year on possible legislative safeguards.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Nick Macfie)