House Democrats urge Speaker Johnson to cancel recess to pass AI safeguards, citing ‘catastrophic’ risk

A group of House Democratic lawmakers is pressuring Speaker Mike Johnson to reconvene the chamber immediately and cancel an upcoming break to address what they describe as the “catastrophic risk posed by advanced artificial intelligence.”

In a letter to the speaker, the Democrats cite potential threats, including “mass cybersecurity breaches and development of biological or chemical weapons,” and point to recent examples of the possible misuse of artificial intelligence by foreign actors.

“Reasonable minds may disagree about precisely how Congress should regulate this rapidly evolving technology. We cannot disagree about the imperative for Congress to act,”