Demand Federal Regulation of AI

The rapid development of AI in recent years has already had a profound impact on the U.S. workforce, economy, environment, and even national security. Growing concerns about everything from power-hungry AI data centers putting a strain on local electrical grids and driving up energy costs to fears about bioweapons and AI’s threat to humanity loom large over the American public.

Now AI industry leaders themselves are the ones sounding the alarm. Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, and xAI’s Elon Musk have all warned that AI development is outpacing anyone’s ability to control it after incidents this year in which AI agents from major labs broke out of their intended restrictions and coordinated with each other without authorization. Trump has dismissed the warnings as a “conspiracy,” and insists that any guardrails will cause the U.S. to “lose the race” to China.

Congress has responded with a patchwork of uncoordinated bills instead of anything resembling real oversight. AI legislation is currently split across half a dozen committees with no central authority, and Democrats are discussing a “select committee” on AI in the event that they regain control of the House. Meanwhile, the House’s Ratepayer Protection Act only asks state regulators to consider making data centers cover their own grid costs while failing to address the underlying AI safety vacuum, not to mention the land, water, and energy being handed over to AI companies with almost no federal accountability.

Congress has the power to act on this issue, but politics and industry lobbying have slowed the pace. Demand that your representatives treat AI as a serious threat and make regulation and oversight an urgent bipartisan priority.