Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) pushed for more federal oversight of artificial intelligence before he leaves Congress, arguing that guardrails are needed to keep “soulless entities” from taking over, despite his long-standing skepticism of government interference.
Roy is known on Capitol Hill for his vigorous defense of small government as the policy chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. As Congress explodes over warnings from major technology leaders that humans could lose control of the future to AI, Roy said in an interview with Politico published Sunday that he remains a “limited government guy” but believes Washington must have a voice in the conversation. The Texas Republican said he is still “wrestling” with exactly what role Congress should play in the AI debate, but he compared the issue to federal regulations on nuclear proliferation, arguing that though he still believes the government “can’t solve problems very well,” there is “a unique issue” at play.
“Government has a role to have hearings. Government has a role to raise questions. Government has a role to maybe demand certain levels of safety or security, or maybe government has a role to demand some certain level of escape valve,” Roy said, while admitting he still doesn’t know what the “proper role” of the government is in the debate. “This is not the simple transition from a horse and buggy to a car. This is an earth-shattering potential human replacement on multiple levels. And with no clear direction for what it means, and then ultimately no clear understanding of who’s in charge of what is supposed to be a tool for humanity — but can ultimately make humans the tools of the technology.”
He added: “Our predisposition as free market conservatives should be that the market is going to produce the best and most efficient and most effective solutions for all of these problems. But the people that are running the industries, they owe us an understanding that they’re doing that.”
Roy’s plea comes after Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei warned over the weekend that AI could get out of hand, pitching extensive guardrails and a global “slowdown” of technological development, in a message backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Amodei’s proposal came after one of his researchers, Jacob Coxon, left Anthropic last week in a publicized resignation, warning “AI could kill us all by the end of the decade.”
When pressed on Coxon’s assessment during a CNN interview, Amodei said he agrees with Coxon “much more than I disagree with him.” At the same time, he pushed back, arguing that “if we take the right paths, then the chance of something going wrong is very low.”
“Instead of saying, you know, it is a 10% chance, that sounds like it is a roll of the dice. I think it is much more illuminating to say, well, that forks into different paths,” Amodei said. “And so let’s focus on our agency and our ability to take the right paths instead of the wrong paths.”
As calls from lawmakers to respond to industry concerns rise, Roy expressed concern that AI could put the world into crippling dilemmas, raising “existential questions” and erasing what it means to be human.
“If you’re sitting as a redcoat and a bluecoat in the [American] Revolution, staring across the field, you know that if you walk out there, you’re gonna get shot, or you might get shot, and you got to be willing to risk it. And you’re risking your life,” the Texas lawmaker said. “What is a robot risking? I think that’s a big deal.”
“I do think we must have some degree of guardrails and that the same laws and rules that apply to humans are going to have to apply to a world of AI,” he added, warning against turning “leadership and decision-making over to soulless entities.”
Roy also cast shade on proponents of AI advancement who cast technological strides primarily in terms of national security and argue that Washington must embrace AI to protect itself from China. President Donald Trump made such an argument on Monday, saying that the United States already holds “tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power” over AI companies, and warning that “WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!”
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Roy said the China argument is “a fear mechanism,” not a “policy prescription.” He expressed a degree of hope that “technology and entrepreneurs are our best hope for figuring out how to manage all of this, not government,” but continued to push for more federal involvement to preserve the option of being “a free human,” setting himself and other Republicans with similar views up for battle with the White House.
“I do think government can provide some safety valves, right? If everything is digitized and AI is sort of running things, if everything goes sideways, what do I do?” Roy asked. “If your ultimate backstop as a human is that God gave us life and dominion over your world, why should I have to answer to a world that chose an AI-driven world? Why? I mean, you have to live in the world you’re in, but shouldn’t I have an option as a free human?”
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
