Jeffries says Congress should ‘act urgently’ on AI safeguards

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) said Sunday he supports immediate congressional action on regulating the development of AI.

“We certainly need to begin to act urgently to address the challenges that exist,” Jeffries told host George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week.”

Jeffries noted “action” on AI will be a “high priority” during his caucus’s closed-door meeting on Tuesday.

Multiple researchers at AI companies have sounded the alarm on the rapid development of AI models. One of those researchers is Jacob Coxon, who resigned from Anthropic earlier this week and said those building the models “earnestly believe that [AI] could kill us all by the end of the decade.”

Coxon wrote Tuesday on social platform X, “Do not underestimate the power of this technology. These will soon be superhuman systems that can hack anything, revolutionize any field overnight, and acquire real power and resources. We have all witnessed the progress in each of these domains, and progress is not slowing.”

Jeffries blasted House Republicans for, in his view, abandoning “their responsibility” on regulating AI. The New York Democrat specifically criticized House GOP leaders for canceling the last two weeks of the lower chamber’s September session.

Jeffries also went after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) for shutting down a bipartisan AI safety task force at the start of the 119th Congress.

The House Democratic leader also highlighted his caucus starting its own commission on the matter, telling Stephanopoulos his colleagues will “present an aggressive framework” to protect Americans from the risks of AI.

“We should take decisive action now so that we can slow down … the pace of development in order to protect the American people and ensure that AI is proceeding safely,” Jeffries said Sunday.

During his own Sunday interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Johnson said he would call the House back into session “if we had the solution” on regulating AI.

“This is a very important issue, and it’s not one that we can rush into,” Johnson told host Kristen Welker.