After Warnings, Lawmakers Show New Interest in AI Laws

The warnings about artificial intelligence have landed with new force on Capitol Hill. After researcher Jacob Coxon quit Anthropic and warned its tech could "kill us all by the end of the decade," lawmakers who had mostly inched around AI for years are asking Democratic Rep. Lori Trahan, who's sponsored a bipartisan oversight bill, what to do next, the Washington Post reports. And others are issuing their own warnings and taking their own steps. "The ground has completely shifted," Trahan said, telling CNBC on Friday, "My phone has rung off the hook this week with rank-and-file Democrats and Republicans who want to see action."

That's no assurance that something will happen. The calendar is tight, and Congress has repeatedly passed on reining in big tech. Trahan's bill, introduced with Rep. Jay Obernolte, would require transparency, set up independent oversight, and let the government shut down AI models posing an "imminent catastrophic risk." Other proposals include mandatory incident reporting and a ban on "artificial superintelligence" backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders. But another calendar reality could encourage action: the Nov. 3 midterms. Backlash against AI giants like OpenAI and Anthropic has been building ahead of the elections, with many people making a connection between job loss and large data centers. President Trump has said he's not worried about AI wiping out humanity, only about the US losing the AI race. The tech CEOs called Saturday for slowing AI's march.