More than 20 lawmakers this week called for stronger regulation of artificial intelligence after researchers warned that Anthropic and OpenAI were “risking their lives”.
Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Friday that bipartisan support has reached a “tipping point.”
“I’ve had calls this week with rank-and-file Democrats and Republicans demanding action,” Trahan said.
Jacob Coxon announced on Tuesday that he was quitting his job at Anthropic in a post about X that garnered more than 150 million views. Coxon, who previously worked as a researcher at OpenAI, wrote that the people building AI “seriously believe that AI could destroy us all by the end of the decade.”
Mr Coxon’s decision to resign caused an uproar on social media, prompting MPs on both sides of the political spectrum to weigh in.
“AI is a powerful force for innovation, and we need it to thrive. But Congress cannot ignore the realities of AI and the potential risks associated with it,” Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas) said in a post on X on Wednesday. “Innovation and safety are not mutually exclusive; both can be achieved through deliberate, thoughtful and smart policymaking.”
Backlash against AI giants like OpenAI and Anthropic has been growing in the months leading up to November’s midterm elections, especially among those who have come to associate AI with unemployment and large data centers. More than half of Americans say they are more concerned than excited about the growing use of AI in daily life, up from 37% in 2021, according to an August report from the Pew Research Center.
But despite growing public anxiety, there is little consensus on how the technology should be regulated in the United States. Lawmakers have introduced several different AI bills, but they are still in their early stages and are controversial.
“It’s past time for Congress to stop sitting on the sidelines and act,” Trahan told CNBC on Friday.
In July, Trahan and Rep. Jay Obanolte (R-Calif.) introduced a bill called the FRONTIER Act that aims to establish a framework to govern the deployment of advanced AI models. That same day, Moran and California Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu introduced a bill called the AI Kill Switch Act that would require AI companies to maintain the ability to shut down, throttle, or pause their models.
And earlier this month, Sen. Bernie Sanders, R-Vt., and Rep. Greg Cassar, D-Texas, announced a bill called the Artificial Superintelligence Ban Act, which would temporarily halt advanced AI development until the federal government establishes safety rules.
“Mr. Coxsone is right,” Mr. Sanders wrote in a post to X on Wednesday. “The very people building this technology acknowledge that it could threaten the future of humanity, which is why I will soon introduce legislation to ban superintelligence and pause AI development.”
The House and Senate are mostly out of session pending the midterm elections, meaning it is unlikely that any AI-related legislation will be passed in the near future. Some lawmakers are already looking ahead to next year.
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) sent a letter to Senate leadership Wednesday following Coxon’s resignation. He called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune (RS.D.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D.Y.) to establish a bipartisan Senate Select Committee on AI at the start of the next Congress.
“Jurisdiction on AI is spread across multiple Senate committees, each with a focused lens, but none with a complete picture,” Gallego wrote. “This approach doesn’t fit well with technologies whose functionality varies significantly every few months.”
The White House is also taking steps toward AI surveillance after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on AI in early June.
The order was light on specific details, asking AI developers to voluntarily submit their models to the government to evaluate their functionality before full release. The administration has not made public the framework it is using to implement its order.
President Trump on Thursday dismissed concerns that AI could cause human extinction, telling reporters: “If we don’t beat AI, we’re going to be in a very bad position.”
OpenAI and Anthropic have been in Washington DC regularly this year, and both companies have released several policy recommendations. Both companies support the federal framework, but are also considering state-level proposals.
Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s head of international affairs and a longtime political operative, published a blog post on Wednesday calling for “mandatory competency-based national regulation.”
“For now, the AI policy window is open,” Lehane wrote. “We’re going to use it.”
WATCH: Human researcher warns AI ‘could wipe out humanity by end of decade’
