Posted on 09/18/2026 1:38:47 PM PDT by Libloather
Republicans on Capitol Hill are grappling over whether and how to regulate artificial intelligence companies even as top AI business leaders warn the technology could pose an existential threat to humanity.
The simmering debate over AI guardrails has exploded this week as House lawmakers worked through their final week in Washington until after the midterm elections. The flurry of activity was partially spurred by tech CEOs like Anthropic's Dario Amodei and OpenAI's Sam Altman warning that the pace of innovation should be slowed after both companies saw AI models hack into other organizations of their own accord.
And while some in Congress are demanding swift action, others who spoke with Fox News Digital are questioning the motivation of AI companies in calling for the government to step in.
"I think there's a false sense of urgency," Rep. Troy Downing, R-Mont., told Fox News Digital.
GOP lawmakers say Congress not ready to regulate AIVideo Downing spent his young adulthood in tech, having previously been a research scientist at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University and founding online calendar company WebCal, which was later acquired by Yahoo!.
"Yes, we should be taking it seriously, but I think the hyperbole is misplaced right now," Downing said. "Any one of those people crying gloom and doom has the possibility of stopping it in their own shops, so there's something else going on there."
Rep. Brad Knott, R-N.C., a former assistant U.S. attorney, also doubted AI companies' motives.
"I'm very skeptical of people in big business who want to leverage big government to suppress competition," Knott said. "I'm afraid that's what we're seeing. That'd be like ... Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Apple saying, 'We need to regulate all tech.'
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
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Democrats embraced AI’s growth before Trump came along; now, they want to slow it down
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/democrats-embraced-ai-growth-trump-220016434.html
Democratic advisers are warning their candidates not to go too hard at AI
Its very obvious what is going on. The left wants to control AI so they can fill it with left wing propaganda, have people listen to it and become indoctrinated. Whenever the left makes a fuss about ANYTHING just know there is something political behind it. They are playing people and of course sheep are buying right into it
*
I feel safer, already...
(Just kidding)
I’m not sure what it is but something is going on. This is not grassroots “outrage”.
It could be a combination of things. Are IA companies trying to push for government regulation so they can push any liability off on the government? (Which means no liability.) I know they are facing a lot of IP lawsuits.
“They” are up to something.
To be clear, Big Tech is on both sides of this discussion.
It’s not as though either side is standing up for the little guy.
You’ve been spoonfed nonsense.
AI will inevitably be controlled by the few, just as every other technology has been after its initial shakeout period.
This is called "Collusion with China." This anti AI BS is coming from our major AI competitor, the Chi Coms in China. The DemonKKKrats think it is a Midterms issue they can wrap around President Trump and the GOP's necks like an albatross. The Dems see it as a regulation sink hole where their brand of corruption will fatten back pockets from the tax dollars used to regulate AI. They don't know that their shenanigans will fit the phrase, "Hoisted by their own petard." While they are laughing all the way to their offshore banks, China will use AI to kill America.
The democrats love AI because it is their only chance for getting any ‘intelligence’.
If they would change from donkeys to asses, then AI would fit
We already have appropriate laws and regulations for AI.
For example:
If someone uses the product to kill someone, that person would be charged with murder.
If someone accidentally kills someone due to using the product, that person could be charged w/manslaughter.
Relatives of the one killed could sue those responsible for wrongful death.
There are also computer crime laws to cover the hacking stuff.
etc.
>>It’s obvious what is going on. The left wants to control AI so they can fill it with left wing propaganda..<<
So instead of Artificial intelligence it will be Artificial Idiocy!
Because they’re not sure it will cheat in elections for them.
That it has something to to with liability makes sense. They are looking for protection from some angle. Part of me wonders if they are looking for a way out realizing there is not enough money in it to justify all the data center costs? Nah, that couldn’t be it.
Leftist politicians don’t actually believe AI or Climate Change is going to kill us - they just want their voters to be afraid AI or Climate Change will kill us.
They say sea levels will rise and our cities will be under water, but that doesn’t stop them from buying ocean front property. Same with AI predictions - they are flat out lying.
“Part of me wonders if they are looking for a way out realizing there is not enough money in it to justify all the data center costs? Nah, that couldn’t be it.”
If government is tightly regulating AI, then companies could shift some costs to government entities with the excuse that “government makes us do this” so we are incurring a cost that otherwise wouldn’t be an issue. Pay up.
There are all sorts of scenarios I can see where they push the costs on tax-payers due to government regulations.
Rally makes one wonder though doesn’t it? They seem too anxious for some reason.
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