The Senate Commerce Committee could take up artificial intelligence regulation after the chamber returns to Washington next week, Sen. Ted Cruz said.
“We need substantially more regulation when it comes to AI,” the Texas Republican, who chairs the committee overseeing the fast-evolving technology, said in a Tuesday night interview for POLITICO’s “The Conversation” with Dasha Burns.
Cruz’s remarks come as catastrophic risks from AI are in the spotlight this week following a viral social media post from a former Anthropic researcher. The post — which Cruz said he read and called “scary as hell” — cautioned that the leading AI companies have been “gambling with our lives,” prompting fresh calls to action from lawmakers in Washington.
Cruz, citing a conversation he had with Elon Musk in which the trillionaire entrepreneur predicted the chance that AI could “destroy humanity” was in 10-20% in the next 10 years, said he’s taking the risk of AI seriously. “It’s deeply concerning.”
The senator said the measures his committee would consider include a fresh bill from him, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to address AI uses that create biological and nuclear threats.
The bill could be introduced as soon as next week, according to reporting from Semafor.
Still, he warned that any government regulation of AI should not thwart America’s lead in the AI race against China.
“The Chinese are putting no guardrails. They’re going full speed ahead,” said Cruz. “We could have government step in and just shut down the AI industry in America, and you know what would happen? China would catch up in six months and soar ahead, and we wouldn’t have the tools to defend ourselves.”
The full interview with Cruz — where he also talked about the midterms, a potential 2028 bid and more — will be published on an upcoming episode of “The Conversation.”
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