Johnson's recess pushes every named AI safeguard past November's elections

The push for action came after a researcher resigned from Anthropic and warned that the technology could "kill us all by the end of the decade."

Washington is scrambling to address renewed fears over artificial intelligence as leading US companies say the technology is advancing beyond their control.

Pledges to slow development from the leaders of frontier companies Anthropic, OpenAI and xAI followed the researcher's warning, and calls for lawmakers to act toward regulating the industry came soon after.

On Friday a group of Democrats led by Rep. Sam Liccardo, D-Calif., wrote to House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., demanding the House return and remain in session until Congress advances meaningful, bipartisan AI safeguards.

The Democrats urged consideration of proposals that have emerged in the House, including bills mandating transparency and evaluation of frontier models, "kill switch" requirements, and a waiver of antitrust laws to allow the industry to work together on safety and security.

The letter said the proposals "deserve consideration, public debate, thoughtful amendment, and action."

Johnson said on CNN Sunday: "If Congress just races in and does some sort of emergency session to try to regulate AI, we will lose the race to China, that is a threat to every single American."

Johnson called for a meeting between leaders in Washington and the leaders of the AI industry, called on the companies to self-police, and said: "I'd do it tomorrow. I think we need to go in a big room, close the door and sort this out."

The episode sets up a test of whether lawmakers respond to the crisis in a hyper-partisan Washington or head home to campaign for reelection with control of Washington on the line at the midterms.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a post on X on Sunday: "Yesterday's commentary by AI industry leaders should be heeded as a bright flashing red light telling the President and Congress they need to act now to regulate and rein in AI development."

Because the House is scheduled to be out from after this week until the November elections have passed, none of the bill categories in the letter can receive floor votes during that period.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on ABC's "This Week" that Democrats would meet on Tuesday to discuss AI guardrails, and said: "We should take decisive action now so that we can slow down, as the CEOs have recently acknowledged, slow down the pace of development in order to protect the American people and ensure that AI is proceeding safely."

The letter's own sequence names four steps before enactment: consideration, public debate, amendment and action.

Of the three bill categories named in the Democrats' letter, two would impose obligations on model developers (transparency and evaluation of frontier models, kill switch requirements) and one would lower the cost of joint industry safety work (the antitrust waiver).