The Financial Times (FT) reports that the companies use INCOMPAS lobbyists to request the Senate add the moratorium to President Donald Trump’s budget bill. The House passed the measure last month. “This is the right policy at the right time for American leadership,” Chip Pickering, INCOMPAS CEO and a former congressman, said to FT. “But it’s equally important in the race against China,” he added. But critics aren’t buying it. “Responsible innovation shouldn’t fear laws that ban irresponsible practices,” said Asad Ramzanali of Vanderbilt University, as reported by FT. Similarly, MIT’s Max Tegmark called it “a power grab by tech bro-ligarchs attempting to concentrate yet more wealth and power,” reported FT. The Republican Party faces internal opposition to this proposal, as reported by FT. Senate members Josh Hawley and Marsha Blackburn stand against the moratorium, but Thom Tillis and Steve Daines support it, citing that they fear that state-by-state regulations will create a fragmented system. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warned it would be “disastrous” to require companies to meet safety standards before launch, as noted by FT. However, AI safety experts who support regulation argue that uncontrolled AI power growth threatens significant social damage to society.
