The House Oversight Committee's subcommittee on "Artificial Intelligence and American Power" held a roundtable on Thursday. It was supposed to be a policy discussion. Within minutes, it became something closer to a group therapy session for people who just realized the future is already here and nobody has a plan.

The headline quote came from Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), a former Navy SEAL who served in combat. He asked the assembled panel of AI executives, academics, and industry leaders a question that is not normally asked in congressional proceedings:

"Does anyone on this panel feel or believe, in any way, that as we are going down the road in this AI race, we might be simultaneously engineering our own destruction?"

Nobody said no. Not outright, anyway.

The Youngest Member of Congress Sees Fire

Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), currently the youngest member of Congress, offered both optimism about AI's potential to cure diseases and boost the economy, and a stark warning about institutional speed.

"I don't have faith in this institution to actually put the common sense guardrails in place. And then we fast forward ten years, and the house is on fire. That won't be good for anybody, whether it's the industry or working families and people, or this institution itself."

Rep. Dave Min (D-Calif.) was even more direct: "If we don't start thinking properly and aggressively and proactively about the challenges that AI creates, I fear that we're going to have a revolution on our hands."

The Fears Were Specific

This was not a vague conversation about the future. Lawmakers brought concrete anxieties to the table. Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) raised the alarm that federal workers may already be feeding sensitive government data into AI chatbots. Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.) asked whether creating AI-generated pornographic images using someone's likeness should be illegal. Rep. John McGuire (R-Va.) expressed concern that AI systems could override military personnel by refusing lethal actions due to the model's "moral" conclusions.

Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) brought up the Trump administration's use of AI in the war with Iran, the technology's intensive energy usage, and its potential effects on the climate.

The elephant in the room was Anthropic. Multiple lawmakers referenced the company's recent disclosure that its Mythos AI model has capabilities so powerful that it limited its use to select customers because of its apparent ability to bypass traditional cybersecurity and hack major institutions.

Industry Said: Trust Us, But Also Fund Safety Research

Robert Atkinson, founder of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, told lawmakers: "I don't think it's going to kill us. At the same time, I do think it's important for the federal government to seriously fund AI safety research. We need to know a lot more about how the models work."

Mark Beall, president of government affairs at the AI Policy Network and a former Pentagon official, warned that Congress risked the country losing its competitive edge on AI if it did not act on key national security concerns.

But the most pointed remark came from George Washington University law professor Spencer Overton, who told lawmakers: "Constituents are looking for you, not for companies, to step up and protect them. They're trusting you, the person that they voted for, to do that, as opposed to companies. That's the way the system works, right?"

The Gap Between Awe and Action

The roundtable captured a Congress caught between fascination and fear. Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) opened the meeting by marveling at how one panelist's company used AI to automate manufacturing, calling it "the closest thing to Star Trek I've ever seen." He then asked how congressional districts should attract AI firms for business.

That is the tension in one room: one lawmaker asking how to build an AI economy in his district while another asks whether the technology will end civilization. Both questions are sincere. Neither has been answered.

Thursday's roundtable happened while the rest of Congress debated surveillance powers, the war with Iran, and DHS funding. AI was the quieter meeting. The quotes suggest it might be the louder problem.

Source: Associated Press