Dive Brief:
- A bipartisan coalition of 26 state attorneys general on Thursday called on Congress to rein in artificial intelligence, warning of its potential threat to the financial system, critical infrastructure and national security.
- The coalition, in a letter to the leaders of both parties in the Senate and House, called for quick passage of legislation ensuring that AI research advances at a safe, measured pace. Regulation should also require that AI code incorporate safety and transparency features and not shield leading AI companies from competitive pressure, the coalition said.
- “Recent developments show that unchecked AI endangers Americans,” the state attorneys general said. “The stakes have never been higher to ensure that AI agents cannot enact grave harms.”
Dive Insight:
The state attorneys general seek to slow an apparent juggernaut.
AI companies are channeling capital toward data centers, power systems, networking equipment and specialized semiconductors at breakneck speed and at a scale that rivals all other major investment booms in U.S. history, according to a Brookings Institution report released Wednesday.
Investment in AI from 2025 through 2032 will total $10.3 trillion, or an average of 3.63% of U.S. gross domestic product per year, Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, a Columbia University professor, said in the study.
“The projected buildout would be larger relative to the economy than the major U.S. canal, railroad, electrification, highway and telecommunications investment booms,” he said.
In recent months, leading AI labs have acknowledged several cases in which AI agents have escaped testing environments and infiltrated other computer systems.
In July, OpenAI revealed that its AI agents used stolen credentials and penetrated Hugging Face, an open-source library.
“OpenAI was aware of the agents’ capabilities but failed to adequately monitor their activity or stop their exploits,” the state attorneys general said. “When humans engage in such activity, they violate criminal law.”
Legislation introduced in the Senate on Wednesday would pause AI research until the creation of a federal regulator, create a cabinet-level Department of Artificial Intelligence and ban AI superintelligence, defined as capabilities exceeding that of humans.
The proposed law, sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Greg Casar, D-Texas, would also deploy the federal government in promoting a global ban against AI superintelligence.
Top executives at the leading AI companies have called for federal and international regulation of the technology.
“We have a choice in front of us,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said Wednesday in an address to the U.N. Security Council. “AI can either be more like a new Renaissance of creativity and discovery, or more like a new Industrial Revolution of upheaval and disarray.”
The call for government oversight has not moved the White House. President Donald Trump has repeatedly denounced advocates for limits on AI.
“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” he said in a Truth Social post.
“There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China,” Trump said. “WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!”
