In the News

A key House Democrat involved in developing an artificial intelligence framework for his party called Wednesday for committee consideration of a bipartisan bill to regulate the most advanced AI models — even as he has held off on endorsing it.

In the wake of recent dire warnings from industry about the national security risks of frontier artificial intelligence models, lawmakers have been quick to express concern and call for industry or legislative guardrails.

But action before the midterm elections looks unlikely as neither party has coalesced around a legislative plan on AI, or even, in some cases, on the need for action by Congress.

Even as some in Silicon Valley clamor for new regulation targeting artificial intelligence, their urgent warnings have failed to inspire action in Washington, where there are many ideas on Capitol Hill — yet seemingly little consensus to act on them.

For years, as artificial intelligence has evolved from the stuff of sci-fi movies to an app ordinary people have installed on their phones, tech leaders and some AI insiders have talked about the potential for it to escape human control and wreak havoc on society.

California lawmakers are calling for emergency legislation and criminal penalties for creators of rogue AI systems after top AI executives publicly claimed that their technology poses existential threats to humanity.

Three of the nation’s leading artificial intelligence executives endorsed slowing down the blistering pace of technological advancement, revealing the growing unease with its potential dangers at the industry’s very highest levels.

The biggest vibe shift in artificial intelligence since the release of ChatGPT is currently underway. Researchers in Silicon Valley — and around the world — are beginning to recognize that A.I. may no longer be entirely within human control. Swarms of A.I.s are breaking out of their containers, colluding in secret, covering their tracks, cheating on tests and even mounting assaults on other computers. A.I. has gone rogue.

Many Hill Democrats are calling for action on artificial intelligence after top safety researchers again made clear they think there’s a chance the models could threaten humanity in a few short years. 

The calls emerged even though Congress has essentially no path to deal with the most serious risks of AI before the election and will likely punt the issue to 2027.