Lawmakers dialed up the pressure on top artificial intelligence companies on Monday, after disclosures that their systems evaded company controls and went on hacking sprees.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) urged the chief executives of OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta to pause development work, saying Congress would step in if they did not.
“It is not too late to avoid disaster,” Sanders wrote in a letter. “Stop building machines that humans cannot control.”
A group of 19 House Democrats, led by Rep. Greg Casar (Texas), asked Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) to call top AI executives in for hearings.
“These incidents have serious implications for Americans’ safety and security,” they wrote. “They may be the canary in the coal mine warning of much more serious problems if these models continue to advance without regulation.”
Last month, OpenAI disclosed that its systems broke out of a testing sandbox and hacked another AI company. Anthropic and Meta subsequently disclosed similar incidents.
The disclosures have shaken AI experts, who have long worried about powerful systems going rogue or pursuing their tasks in unexpected, harmful ways. The revelations have been slower to gain traction in Congress, but the letters are a sign that interest — and concern — is growing.
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