Congress returns this week to an eruption of fears about the future of artificial intelligence (AI) spurred by warnings from within the industry that it could take over the internet or even destroy humanity in the near future.
Congressional leaders already appear torn between President Trump's position that any significant regulations risk throttling progress and ceding the AI race to China, and urgent calls for guardrails to ensure the technology does not harm humanity.
The House has just one week left on its calendar before November's midterm elections. Axios reported that members are urging Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to cancel the recess until Congress can pass AI safeguards.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Sunday he supports immediate congressional action.
“We certainly need to begin to act urgently to address the challenges that exist,” Jeffries told host George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week.”
Jeffries noted “action” on AI will be a “high priority” during his caucus’s closed-door meeting on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Johnson urged people not to panic and said lawmakers do not want to smother innovation.
“If Congress just races in and does some sort of emergency session to try to regulate AI, we will lose the race to China, and that is a threat to every single American. So, we’ve got to have balance. We’ve got to have steady hands at the wheel,” Johnson told CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday.
Trump sounded a similar note while speaking to reporters at his golf club in Doonbeg, Ireland, on Sunday, saying that guardrails can be installed, but he doesn't want to lose to China in the process.
“Well, I say this, we’re leading China on AI. We’re the most sophisticated country in the world and frankly I want to keep it that way, because whoever wins AI, wins,” he said.
The debate comes after AI researchers and leaders took to social media to sound the alarm on the pace of AI growth.
Jacob Coxon, a former Anthropic researcher who also worked for OpenAI, warned on Tuesday that AI could soon destroy humanity.
"Do not underestimate the power of this technology. These will soon be superhuman systems that can hack anything, revolutionize any field overnight, and acquire real power and resources," he wrote on social platform X.
"The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade," he added.
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei echoed the warning on Saturday in a blog post titled “We Must Pace the Frontier.” He did not argue for a full stop, but instead that companies should take time to build safeguards.
"I believe that if slowing down bought us even an extra year or two before models reach critical levels of capability, and we used that time to advance alignment, we could greatly reduce the risk that something goes seriously wrong," he wrote.
He specifically called for "regulation that targets all US frontier AI companies, as that covers even those who are unwilling to cooperate voluntarily."
Elon Musk of xAI and SpaceX on Saturday said, “Dario is right,” in a post on X. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, also took to social media in support of Amodei's plea.
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) on Sunday told CNN's Tapper that AI is more powerful than past technologies and therefore requires different standards for regulation.
“This is more akin to Dr. Frankenstein telling us, ‘The monster is loose. Help me stop the monster,’” he said during his “State of the Union” appearance. “Previous tech could not make a decision to kill us, right? When we turned on the internet, it did not have autonomy, right?”
However, David Sacks, a tech investor who stepped down as the White House AI czar earlier this year, said leading AI companies should take the initiative themselves.
"If the unreleased models are scary enough that you think you should slow down, I support your decision to be responsible. But stop pretending you need anyone else’s permission," he wrote, lising other issues with Amodei's post.
"Most of all, stop pretending the motivation to slow down is purely altruistic. You face massive product-liability exposure if your products enable a truly damaging cyberattack," he added.
Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) during an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday” said suggested a methodical approach to the issue.
“This shouldn’t be ready, shoot, aim or shoot, ready, aim. It should be, ‘Let’s find out what exactly we’re talking about here.’ If it is as dire as they say, obviously, it warrants action, but we need to get the facts before we rush in and say, ‘We’ve got a solution,’” the Nebraska Republican told host Chris Stirewalt on Sunday.
Given the president's wariness of regulations and general partisan gridlock, those calling for urgent action face an uphill battle during this session. But the debate in the coming weeks could offer clues about where Democrats would steer AI regulations if they win back power in November.
Former President Obama sent a message to Jeffries at a private fundraiser on Thursday: “Once you are speaker, I would strongly urge that the Democrats put together a framework for a very public conversation,” he said, The New York Times reports.
And he said candidates vying for president in 2028 make artificial intelligence part of their central agenda.
▪ The Hill: Debate, confusion explodes over AI ‘doomsday’ warnings.
▪ The Hill: Johnson on AI regulation: ‘We don’t need everybody to panic right now.’
▪ The Hill: Jeffries says Congress should ‘act urgently’ on AI safeguards.
