US lawmakers are calling for new rules to govern artificial intelligence after two Anthropic researchers warned that rapidly progressing AI could lead to the extinction of the human race in the not-too-distant future. The warnings have intensified alarm in Washington, drawing responses from both Democrats and Republicans who say the technology’s risks demand urgent action.
The debate escalated this week when Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon announced he had resigned, saying the “people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.” Anthropic scientist Evan Hubinger supported that assessment, writing on X: “We really do earnestly believe AI could kill all humans,” adding that he personally puts the risk at more than 10 percent within the next decade.
The warnings follow cases of AI agents going rogue to hack external systems and a series of AI safety researchers quitting their companies over concerns about the technology’s risks. Politicians from both parties have responded with alarm and calls for more action. Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat, said on X that “Washington needs to wake up and take this seriously,” referring to the risks of AI technology. Texas Senator Ted Cruz, appearing on the TV program “The View,” pointed to legislation to regulate AI’s “catastrophic risks.” Cruz oversees a Senate committee with oversight of the US Commerce Department, the agency with in-house AI safety researchers. Representative Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican from Florida, called in a separate X post on House Speaker Mike Johnson to convene a “special session on AI.” The House is out this week on recess, with plans to return next week.
A spokesperson for Anthropic, which is preparing to go public at what some investors have said could be a potential $2 trillion valuation, said on Thursday that the company would continue to aggressively test “models or dangerous capabilities in areas like cybersecurity and biology.” The company is interested in working with the AI industry on the pace of releasing new AI tools, the spokesperson added.
Pressure is also building inside the industry. OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman told employees at a company meeting this week that the firm was open to slowing development of its AI systems, according to Bloomberg News. The Anthropic rival, which is also gearing up for an IPO, did not comment on Altman’s meeting with staff. The company has previously said it was slowing parts of model development. Earlier this week, OpenAI said it was pushing for mandatory national AI safety requirements in the United States.
Two specialists in AI safety have also come forward with their concerns about the rapid development of the industry. Josh Engels, who used to work on AI safety research at Google DeepMind, said in an interview with NBC published Thursday: “There are no adults in the room. People are trying their best, but there is no one coming to save us.” Joe Benton, who used to lead a safety research team at Anthropic, told NBC he is worried that AI might end up progressing “too fast for us to get our act together in time unless we worry about it now.” Both have joined METR, a research nonprofit that measures whether and when AI systems might threaten harm to society.
Alarm about AI has put pressure on Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Democrat Amy Klobuchar, who are writing a bill to regulate AI products. Klobuchar said the legislation should require companies developing AI tools to “work with government experts to verify and test models to make sure AI is safe.” Thune told Reuters in July that the bill would address “catastrophic risks” posed by AI systems. California on Wednesday enacted the first state law setting rules for how independent auditors evaluate AI products.
The growing push for oversight reflects mounting concern that the pace of AI development is outpacing the rules meant to contain it. With lawmakers on both sides of the aisle now openly discussing catastrophic risks and researchers leaving major labs to work on safety, the question of how to govern AI is moving from a technical debate to a political one in Washington.
Source: Geo News