Kamala Harris Urges Congress to Slow Frontier AI, Set Up Federal Oversight Body
Kamala Harris has called for slowing frontier AI development and urged Congress to create a federal oversight body, citing risks to public interest.
Former US Vice President Kamala Harris has urged Congress to move quickly on legislation to regulate frontier artificial intelligence, warning that the technology is developing at an alarming pace and needs stronger oversight.
In a post on her official X account, Harris said slowing the pace of frontier AI development is necessary to keep the technology aligned with the public interest. She argued that the moment requires leadership from the United States government, and that lawmakers must pass new laws and set up a new federal entity to provide oversight and independent testing of AI systems.
Such a body, she said, would ensure accountability and help protect public wellbeing. Harris added that a slowdown does not mean turning away from the benefits of AI, pointing to life-saving applications already emerging in medicine. The aim, she wrote, is to put sensible guardrails in place so that AI does not slip beyond human control and endanger safety and the collective future.
Her intervention comes as several AI industry leaders have voiced support for stronger safeguards around frontier development. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has called for slowing the pace of AI development and proposed giving third-party evaluators ongoing access to AI systems. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has backed independent evaluators while stressing safe development, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has suggested a peer-review mechanism in which leading AI companies test one another's models before release. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has also supported calls to slow the pace of development.
The debate has been sharpened by the public resignation of a former Anthropic researcher, who claimed that companies were close to losing control of AI technology.
Harris said industry leaders had over the weekend endorsed an idea that the American public and many AI researchers within their own labs have long sought: responsibly slowing the pace of frontier AI development.
She also called for international cooperation, saying the United States must continue to lead the world in AI development even as it pursues common-sense safety standards. She said the president must act to protect America's interests by pursuing a treaty with countries such as China to stop dangerous uses of AI, limit the speed of its development and adopt global standards for testing.