A congressional subcommittee meeting on artificial intelligence quickly veered into profound concerns this week, as lawmakers voiced deep anxieties about the rapidly advancing technology.
Rep. James Walkinshaw, a Democrat from Virginia, raised alarms over the potential for federal employees to use AI chatbots when handling sensitive government information. Republican Rep. William Timmons of South Carolina questioned whether it should be made illegal for AI systems to exploit an individual’s likeness to generate pornographic content.
Further concerns came from Rep. John McGuire, a Virginia Republican, who worried that AI could potentially override military decisions, preventing US forces from taking lethal action based on a model's "moral" assessment. Democrat Rep. Yassamin Ansari, representing Arizona, highlighted issues surrounding the Trump administration’s use of AI in the war with Iran, alongside the technology’s significant energy consumption and its environmental impact.
This roundtable, titled "Artificial Intelligence and American Power," was convened by the House Oversight Committee’s subcommittee. It brought together AI firm executives, academics, and industry leaders implementing AI, alongside the lawmakers, even as Congress debated other pressing matters such as federal surveillance powers, the Iran conflict, and Department of Homeland Security funding.
Thursday’s discussion comes as leaders on Capitol Hill grapple with the dizzying pace of global developments in which technology plays a central role. But the conversation quickly considered the potential for artificial intelligence to dwarf every other challenge facing the country.
“People in our districts across this country are going to start feeling impacts very soon, and if we don’t start thinking properly and aggressively and proactively about the challenges that AI creates, I fear that we’re going to have a revolution on our hands,” said Rep. Dave Min, D-Calif.
The subcommittee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida, also expressed optimism about AI’s ability to cure diseases and boost the economy. But Frost, currently the youngest member of Congress, worried that the technology would outpace lawmakers and pose potentially disastrous consequences if not addressed early on.
“I don’t have faith in this institution to actually put the common sense guardrails in place. And then we fast forward ten years, and the house is on fire,” said Frost. “That won’t be good for anybody, whether it’s the industry or working families and people, or this institution itself.”
Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., kicked off the meeting with praise for the industry and marveled at how one panelist’s company used AI to automate and fast-track manufacturing in the firm’s factories.
“It’s truly like the closest thing to Star Trek I’ve ever seen,” Burlison said. He later inquired about what congressional districts should do to attract AI firms for business.
Many also openly fretted about disclosures from technology firms like Anthropic, which recently announced that its Mythos AI model, which the company claims has capabilities so powerful that it is limiting its use to select customers because of its apparent ability to bypass traditional cybersecurity and hack major institutions like banks, government agencies and major corporations.
“I recognize AI is not going anywhere,” said Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., a former Navy SEAL who served in combat. “That being said, does anyone on this panel feel or believe, in any way, that as we are going down the road in this AI race, we might be simultaneously engineering our own destruction?”
The assembled experts and industry leaders all highlighted AI’s vast and growing capabilities. They urged lawmakers, alongside their policy recommendations, to be thoughtful and well-informed when making policy.
Mark Beall, president of government affairs at the AI Policy Network Inc. and a former Pentagon official, warned that Congress risked the country losing its competitive edge on AI if it did not act on key national security concerns.
“I don’t think it’s going to kill us,” Robert Atkinson, founder of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a technology think tank, told lawmakers.
“At the same time, I do think it’s important for the federal government to seriously fund AI safety research,” Atkinson continued. “We need to know a lot more about how the models work.”
Spencer Overton, a George Washington University law professor, said the incentives for AI companies “are really what they should be” when asked by lawmakers whether the firms were good actors.
“Constituents are looking for you, not for companies, to step up and protect them," Overton said. "They’re trusting you, the person that they voted for, to do that, as opposed to companies. That’s the way the system works, right?”
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