{"id":224212,"date":"2026-09-14T22:52:36","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T22:52:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/dire-warnings-about-ai-shock-congress-but-action-is-unlikely-before-the-election-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T22:52:36","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T22:52:36","slug":"dire-warnings-about-ai-shock-congress-but-action-is-unlikely-before-the-election-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/dire-warnings-about-ai-shock-congress-but-action-is-unlikely-before-the-election-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Dire warnings about AI shock Congress, but action is unlikely before the election – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

BREAKING: Sen. Mitch McConnell returns to the Senate after a three-month absence <\/a><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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WASHINGTON \u2014 In September 2023, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman and other billionaire tech titans huddled<\/a> with senators in the Capitol to discuss what Musk called the \u201ccivilizational risk<\/a>\u201d posed by artificial intelligence.
Three years later, <\/strong>those tech titans have all deepened their investments in AI, and Congress still has not passed any comprehensive legislation to rein in or create guardrails for the fast-moving technology. Even after countless committee hearings<\/a> on AI and the formation of various commissions and task forces<\/a> to study it, there\u2019s not even any consensus in the House or Senate about how to tackle the issue.
That failure has been spotlighted in recent days as a trio of AI researchers <\/a>at top companies dropped a bombshell, saying they had left their jobs over concerns that AI systems could spiral out of control and end humanity. Jacob Coxon, who resigned from Anthropic, wrote on X: \u201cThe people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.\u201d
Anthropic, maker of the Claude chatbot, said Thursday that it had banned some accounts<\/a> believed to be tied to foreign governments or militaries for conducting suspicious research that could support the development of biological weapons. Then, over the weekend, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, published an essay declaring that AI advances are moving too fast and that companies should deliberately \u201cslow the pace\u201d<\/a> \u2014 an idea endorsed by Altman and Musk.
The stark warnings set off fresh alarm bells and a flurry of activity on Capitol Hill, with Democrats and even some Republicans saying Congress is facing a narrow time frame to act on AI.
But despite the calls for action, it\u2019s unlikely lawmakers will do anything before Election Day to address the dangers, even as experts say the technology\u2019s capabilities are growing more powerful with each passing month.
\u201cThe call is coming from inside the house. Safety researchers are resigning, powerful AI models are breaking out of their labs, and companies are racing ahead anyway. It\u2019s past time for Congress to get off the sidelines and do its job,\u201d Rep. Lori Trahan, D-Mass., a member of the Democratic leadership team, responded<\/a> to Coxon\u2019s post on X.
Trahan is urging passage of the Frontier Act, a bill she authored with Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., that would establish new safety and transparency rules for large, powerful AI companies. Theirs is one of dozens of AI-related bills filed in Congress in the last few years, though none have gained traction.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., chairman of a Homeland Security subcommittee on disasters, last week launched an investigation into an incident where OpenAI agents escaped their so-called sandbox, went \u201crogue\u201d and hacked the AI platform Hugging Face<\/a>.
And Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the top Democratic caucus member on the committee that oversees labor issues, has invited fellow senators to a private meeting this week with top AI experts to discuss the \u201cextraordinary dangers that AI poses for humanity.\u201d
Sanders has teamed with Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, on legislation<\/a> that would ban the development and deployment of superintelligent AI systems that humans cannot control and create a new Cabinet-level federal agency\u202fto protect the public from AI.
\u201cThis legislation is so important to make sure that we protect Americans\u2019 freedom and our safety, our lives and our national security,\u201d Casar said during a recent appearance on NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press NOW.\u201d<\/a> \u201cYou have top Anthropic researchers resigning from their jobs or saying that they believe there\u2019s a 10% chance that this unregulated artificial superintelligence could kill all of us. I mean, they\u2019re talking about 10% chance of human extinction. \u2026 We need to treat this as the emergency that it is.\u201d
Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., co-chair of the Democratic Commission on AI, has partnered with Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas, on what they\u2019re calling the AI Kill Switch Act<\/a>. The bill would require developers of the most powerful AI systems to maintain the technical capability to throttle, suspend or shut them down. It also would allow the homeland security secretary to order a slowdown or shutdown of an AI system that can cause what they referred to as \u201ccatastrophic harm.\u201d
This marks the final week the House will be in session until the Nov. 3 midterm elections. Amid fierce voter backlash to data centers<\/a>, the lower chamber this week will take up the bipartisan Ratepayer Protection Act, which aims to make companies, not consumers, pay for higher energy costs related to new data centers.
But House GOP leaders have shown no urgency in prioritizing more sweeping AI regulations. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has mostly deferred to President Donald Trump, who has issued a series of executive orders on AI, most recently one that lays out a way for the federal government to conduct voluntary tests<\/a> of powerful new AI systems before they are deployed.
In an appearance Sunday on NBC\u2019s \u201cMeet the Press,\u201d Johnson called AI an \u201cimportant issue\u201d but \u201cnot one that we can rush into.\u201d He reiterated his previous position that AI does need \u201csafety measures\u201d but warned that he doesn\u2019t want to stifle American innovation and see China win the AI arms race.
\u201cI think we\u2019ve got to have meaningful regulation that does not smother American innovation,\u201d Johnson told host Kristen Welker. \u201cNow, the how to solve that equation, no one knows yet. We\u2019re not going to rush in and pass a piece of legislation that would do harm to the country and put China at an edge. And so we\u2019ve got to do this carefully.\u201d
The speaker added that the next step would be to convene all of the top AI leaders \u201cin one big meeting and work this out together in the same room.\u201d <\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t acknowledge that\u2019s precisely what happened on Capitol Hill exactly three years ago.
Leaving the GOP\u2019s midterm convention in Dallas last week, Trump was asked whether he has any concerns that AI could lead to human extinction. \u201cNo, I don\u2019t have any,\u201d he told reporters on the tarmac. \u201cI have concerns that if we don\u2019t win AI, we\u2019re going to be put in a very bad position. We are leading China right now by a pretty good period.\u201d
There are also questions about whether lawmakers and their staffers who help write legislation have the expertise to understand and regulate AI<\/a> when the industry is moving so fast.
\u201cTwo questions for those asking Congress to regulate AI,\u201d outgoing Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, wrote on X<\/a>. \u201c1) how does Congress regulate AI (assuming Congress knows enough to pass wise and effective regulation) when the technology is evolving so rapidly? 2) will our adversaries play by the same rules?\u201d
Asked on ABC\u2019s \u201cThe View\u201d about Coxon\u2019s dire warning, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said he was working on the AI issue with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who are making updates to their 2023 bill known as the AI Research, Innovation and Accountability Act<\/a>.
It would do things like ensure consumers are properly notified when they are interacting with generative AI and require companies deploying high-risk AI systems to perform detailed risk assessments and submit reports to the government.
But the bill stalled three years ago, and Cruz said it\u2019s \u201cnot clear\u201d that an updated version can pass. The Senate will be in session for the next three weeks before lawmakers leave for the campaign trail. Both chambers are in play this November.
\u201cI mean, look, it is possible to move bipartisan legislation,\u201d Cruz said. But he added: \u201cIt ain\u2019t easy. This is a very divided time.\u201d
The chairman noted that last year his committee and ultimately the full Congress did pass bipartisan legislation banning \u201cdeepfake\u201d pornography<\/a> that is generated by AI.
He, too, argued that American tech companies need to keep pace with the Chinese on AI.
\u201cChina is going full speed ahead. And whatever we do here, China is not going to stop,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I\u2019ve said somewhat tongue in cheek, but not entirely, if there\u2019re going to be killer robots, I\u2019d rather they be American killer robots than Chinese killer robots.\u201d
Scott Wong is a senior congressional reporter for NBC News.
Frank Thorp V is a coordinating producer and off-air reporter covering Congress for NBC News, managing coverage of the Senate.
Brennan Leach is an associate producer for NBC News covering the Senate.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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BREAKING: Sen. Mitch McConnell returns to the Senate after a three-month absence news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeWASHINGTON \u2014 In September 2023, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman and other billionaire tech titans huddled with senators in the Capitol to discuss what Musk called the \u201ccivilizational risk\u201d posed by artificial intelligence.Three years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":224213,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-224212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}