A Nobel laureate in computing left a closed AI-safety meeting this week, USA TODAY writes, warning members may have a year to act; the kill-switch bills are not yet enacted law. Texas Republican Rep. Nathaniel Moran, co-author of a bipartisan bill to shut down rogue models, said haste is unnecessary and the choice should stay measured. Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy tried this week to pass a looser version by unanimous consent. The House calendar loses September floor days; members are due out in October.
USA TODAY reported on 19 September that a Nobel Prize-winning computer scientist emerged from a closed-door meeting with members of Congress this week about AI safety with a warning that they may have just a year left to meaningfully rein in the technology. The paper says that sense of urgency is far from widely shared on Capitol Hill. It describes a tension between quick, sloppy intervention and action that arrives too late.[1]
Texas Republican Rep. Nathaniel Moran, a co-author of bipartisan legislation to shut down rogue AI models, told USA TODAY haste is unnecessary and the choice should stay measured. Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy tried this week to skip the typical voting process and unanimously pass a similar, though less strict, version of Moran's kill-switch bill, saying the chamber will stay idle on the topic. Texas Democrat Rep. Greg Casar, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, warned of a risk of mass destruction and told the paper Congress needs to wake up.[1]
USA TODAY says lawmakers in both chambers were scheduled to be gone for all of October ahead of the midterm elections. House Speaker Mike Johnson then canceled the last two working weeks of September, sending Republicans out on the campaign trail. The paper says Johnson, like President Donald Trump, has characterized some AI fears as overblown. Florida Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna has advocated a special session. The kill-switch bills named in the piece are not yet enacted law, and the empty autumn calendar is the reason the stall may last.[1]
