The House is slated to recess at the end of this week through early November, but a group of House Democrats is calling on Speaker Mike Johnson to delay that recess until lawmakers pass AI safeguards.
“Reasonable minds may disagree about precisely how Congress should regulate this rapidly evolving technology. We cannot disagree about the imperative for Congress to act,” the Democratic lawmakers said in a statement.
Johnson argues Congress needs more time to get the policy right, and that AI companies bear responsibility.
“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” Johnson told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.
President Trump appeared to share that assessment, dismissing the concerns of AI executives.
“We’re leading China in AI. We’re the most sophisticated country in the world. And frankly, I want to keep it that way because whoever wins AI wins,” Mr. Trump told reporters at his golf course in Ireland over the weekend. “We can put guardrails, we can do this and that. But I think you have a lot of negative voices that are bringing it up that shouldn’t be bringing it up.”
Mr. Trump on Sunday night said that he’s not “downplaying” the risks of AI, but “it’s going to be more good than bad.”
The White House has said the administration is working on an AI framework, but it’s unclear what that looks like. Mr. Trump’s former AI czar, David Sacks, argued that AI companies should “go ahead” and regulate themselves. “I support your decision to be responsible, ” Sacks wrote in a social media post. “But stop pretending you need anyone else’s permission.”
The calls for White House regulation come ahead of Mr. Trump’s planned meeting next week with Chinese President Xi Jinping amid the AI development race.
There are several legislative proposals on Capitol Hill to implement regulations on AI, ranging from transparency mandates and audits, to a federal “kill switch,” to a waiver of antitrust laws to allow companies to coordinate on safety standards.
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont has proposed legislation for an outright ban of superintelligent AI and to pause AI development until federal safety rules are established.
And as Congress shows an inability to act, the issue is spilling over on the campaign trail. At a fundraiser last week, former President Barack Obama urged Democrats to come up with a clear message ahead of the midterms.
“This is something that is moving very fast in private hands, and if we don’t get on top of it, I think can be dangerous. If we do get on top of it, I do think it’s beneficial,” he said, during a fireside chat with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on Sunday embraced Sanders’ proposal during an appearance on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
“We need to act, and we need to act now,” El-Sayed said. “So, we’ve also been calling for a pause on any of this frontier AI research until we can assure that this is being done safely.”
