The Senate Commerce Committee could take up artificial intelligence regulation after the chamber returns to Washington next week, Sen. Ted Cruz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need substantially more regulation when it comes to AI,\u201d the Texas Republican, who chairs the committee overseeing the fast-evolving technology, said in a Tuesday night interview for Blue Light News\u2019s \u201cThe Conversation\u201d with Dasha Burns.<\/p>\n

Cruz\u2019s remarks come as catastrophic risks from AI are in the spotlight this week following a viral social media post<\/a> from a former Anthropic researcher. The post \u2014 which Cruz said he read and called \u201cscary as hell\u201d \u2014 cautioned that the leading AI companies have been \u201cgambling with our lives,\u201d prompting fresh calls to action<\/a> from lawmakers in Washington.<\/p>\n

Cruz, citing a conversation he had with Elon Musk in which the trillionaire entrepreneur predicted the chance that AI could \u201cdestroy humanity\u201d was in 10-20% in the next 10 years, said he\u2019s taking the risk of AI seriously. \u201cIt\u2019s deeply concerning.\u201d<\/p>\n

The senator said the measures his committee would consider include a fresh bill<\/a> from him, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to address AI uses that create biological and nuclear threats.<\/p>\n

The bill could be introduced as soon as next week, according to reporting from Semafor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Still, he warned that any government regulation of AI should not thwart America\u2019s lead in the AI race against China.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Chinese are putting no guardrails. They’re going full speed ahead,\u201d said Cruz. \u201cWe could have government step in and just shut down the AI industry in America, and you know what would happen? China would catch up in six months and soar ahead, and we wouldn’t have the tools to defend ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The full interview with Cruz \u2014 where he also talked about the midterms, a potential 2028 bid and more \u2014 will be published on an upcoming episode of \u201cThe Conversation<\/a>.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"