US Lawmakers Split on AI Rules as Speaker Johnson Backs Industry Self-Policing

Congressional leaders offered sharply divergent views Tuesday on how the United States should handle artificial intelligence, with House Speaker Mike Johnson arguing that the companies building the technology should regulate themselves and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal pressing for immediate legislative oversight.

Speaking to reporters, Johnson said he had discussed the issue with President Donald Trump, including late Monday, and that top executives from the leading AI companies would be summoned to the White House within the next week. "All the big names you know, I think within the next week, we'll be together," he said.

Johnson rejected the idea of a government-imposed pause on AI development, warning that it would cost the United States its competitive edge over China and carry national security consequences. He said existing federal laws and product liability rules already require companies to build safe products, and that firms such as the leading frontier labs can self-police and self-regulate. "They don't need the government to tell them to slow it down. If they want to slow down they should," he said.

The speaker characterised recent alarm about AI as overblown, comparing it to past doomsday warnings and dismissing what he called a "hoax." He said any federal guardrails should be considered calmly and through a responsible, balanced approach, and cautioned against a transnational regulatory body, arguing that strict rules on willing countries while others proceed unchecked would leave the US at a disadvantage.

Blumenthal, however, said voluntary self-regulation by big tech is no longer credible. "We're way past trusting big tech. That era of voluntary self-regulation is gone," he said, calling for an oversight regime similar to that applied to pharmaceutical drugs. He and Senator Josh Hawley have introduced a bill that would require new AI developments to be submitted to an agency for review to ensure they are safe and pose no danger.

Blumenthal urged Congress not to leave for November or take any recess without passing AI legislation, describing the new models as frightening and the risks as real rather than science fiction. "We're dealing here with real peril, not science fiction," he said.