Source: BBC

A political impasse in Washington has stalled prospects for new federal AI safety legislation as President Donald Trump publicly dismissed apocalyptic warnings about AI, calling claims that "AI taking over the World" a "HOAX" and asserting that the only guardrail needed is a "strong and smart" president. Senior Democrats in Congress and prominent figures in the AI sector, who have issued stark safety warnings, disagree with Trump and are calling for regulatory action; however, any statutory bill would need to pass both the House and Senate and then likely require presidential signature, making enactment unlikely while Trump and his party oppose new constraints.

The House is due to enter recess at the end of the week until after the midterm elections in early November, prompting some Democrats to seek a delay or special session and to press Speaker Mike Johnson to keep Congress in session; Johnson showed no sign of doing so and instead said Trump would soon meet AI executives to discuss corporate responsibility and the role, if any, of government. Multiple and divergent legislative proposals exist on Capitol Hill — from independent reviews and a federal "kill switch" to a Senator Sanders-proposed moratorium on data centres — while Representative Lori Trahan’s bipartisan Frontier Act would empower the government to halt AI models posing an "imminent catastrophic risk" and require independent audits; critics note the White House's voluntary framework remains secret and that consensus on which AI risks to address is lacking.