Congress Secures AI By Leaving It Unregulated

Congress secured the nation’s artificial-intelligence systems Wednesday by leaving Washington before lawmakers could impose any safety requirements on them. The House began its six-week recess a day early after 107 Democrats urged Speaker Mike Johnson to keep members in town long enough to consider safeguards for rapidly advancing AI. Johnson instead activated Congress’s most reliable emergency protocol: adjourn immediately and allow the companies warning about catastrophic risks to continue supervising themselves.

“The safest artificial-intelligence policy is one Congress has not read, debated, amended, funded or voted on,” Johnson said. “Once elected officials become involved, there is always the terrible danger that governing might occur and somebody could be held responsible.” The departure halted a troubling outbreak of legislative activity in which Republicans and Democrats had discussed transparency rules, incident reporting, federal oversight and other radical proposals for learning what the technology does before deploying it throughout the economy, military and public infrastructure.

Representatives Sara Jacobs, Don Beyer, Ted Lieu and Lori Trahan called for immediate action, while Senator Cory Booker urged President Donald Trump to convene a special session. Congressional leaders determined that returning to Washington would expose members to expert testimony, difficult votes and constituents discovering which lawmakers believe voluntary corporate promises are stronger than federal law. Trump endorsed the recess-based safety framework, under which innovation remains protected from oversight while technology companies identify every possible hazard by releasing products first and apologizing at scale.

Americans concerned about job displacement, cyberattacks, biological threats, election manipulation and systems exceeding human control were advised to remain calm until after Election Day. Lawmakers will then return refreshed, receive campaign-donation updates and begin the careful process of scheduling a hearing about whether another hearing should be scheduled. Industry executives may testify that regulation would be dangerously premature because their products are not yet powerful enough to regulate, while also informing investors that the same products will transform civilization by Thursday. The congressional recess therefore achieved America’s first successful AI shutdown: the machines will continue operating, but the government has been safely turned off.

* None of the quotes in this article were spoken by an actual person. More info.