Calls for Stronger AI Regulation Grow in Congress After Researcher's Extinction Warning

Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Friday that bipartisan support had reached “a tipping point.” She said her phone had rung off the hook with rank-and-file Democrats and Republicans who want action. “It’s past time for Congress to get off the sidelines and act,” Trahan said.

Coxon, who previously worked as a researcher at OpenAI, wrote that the people building AI “earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.” His decision to quit set off a firestorm on social media and prompted lawmakers from both parties to weigh in.

Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas, wrote on X on Wednesday that AI is “a powerful engine of innovation” that needs to flourish, but that Congress cannot ignore its potential risks. “Innovation and safety are not mutually exclusive,” Moran wrote. “We can achieve both through deliberate, thoughtful, and prudent policymaking.”

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., wrote on X on Wednesday that Coxon was right. Sanders said the very people building the technology admit it could threaten the future of humanity, and he said he would soon introduce legislation to ban superintelligence and pause AI development.

Backlash against AI companies including OpenAI and Anthropic has mounted in the months before November’s midterm elections, especially among people who associate AI with job loss and large data centers. An August report from the Pew Research Center found that 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.

Despite that unease, there is little consensus in the United States about how the technology should be regulated. Lawmakers have introduced several AI bills, but they are in early stages and have received mixed reactions.

In July, Trahan and Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., introduced the FRONTIER Act, which aims to establish a framework for governing the deployment of advanced AI models. That same day, Moran and Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., introduced the AI Kill Switch Act, which would require AI companies to maintain the ability to shut down, throttle or suspend their models. Earlier this month, Sanders and Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, announced the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, which would temporarily pause advanced AI development until the federal government establishes safety rules.

Both the Senate and the House are mostly out of session until the midterms, leaving a slim chance that any AI legislation will pass in the near future. Some lawmakers are already looking ahead to next year. After Coxon’s resignation, Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., wrote a letter to Senate leadership on Wednesday urging Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., to establish a bipartisan Senate Select Committee on AI at the start of the next Congress. Gallego wrote that jurisdiction over AI is scattered across multiple Senate committees, each with a focused lens but none with the full picture, an approach poorly matched to a technology whose capabilities are measurably different every few months.

The White House has also taken steps toward AI oversight. President Donald Trump signed an AI executive order in early June. The order was light on specific details and asked AI developers to voluntarily submit their models to the government to assess their capabilities ahead of a full release. The administration has not published the framework it is using to implement the order. Trump dismissed concerns about AI’s potential to cause human extinction on Thursday, telling reporters that “if we don’t win AI, we’re going to be put in a very bad position.”

OpenAI and Anthropic have maintained a regular presence in Washington, D.C., this year, and both companies have published several policy recommendations. They are proponents of a federal framework but have also weighed in on some state-level proposals. Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s global affairs chief and a longtime political operative, published a blog post on Wednesday calling for “mandatory, capability-based national regulation.” “The AI policy window is open, for now,” Lehane wrote. “We intend to use it.”