Alarms have been ringing recently about the dangers of artificial intelligence, and now Gov. Abigail Spanberger is calling on Congress to take a bigger role in regulation. Spanberger argues the technology poses risks to privacy, workers and the country’s resources.
In a letter Monday to House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Spanberger said the federal government has a responsibility to address the potential consequences of AI.
“The federal government needs to play a much larger role in regulating this emerging technology to ensure its safe development and the protection of people and their livelihoods,” the governor wrote.
Spanberger pointed to data privacy, workforce impacts and large-scale resource consumption as areas of concern, arguing that AI regulation should not be left solely to private companies.
Spanberger recently established an AI Task Force to address what her administration describes as risks associated with AI development while directing the technology toward uses that benefit Virginia’s workforce, children, families and communities.
But Spanberger said state action alone is not enough.
“Decisive federal action is paramount to ensure a national AI framework is accountable to — and for — the American people,” she wrote.
President Donald Trump recently rejected calls for AI regulation, saying it would give China the upper hand.
“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades,” Trump wrote on social media last week.
Spanberger rejected the idea that the United States must choose between regulating AI and maintaining its position as a leader in the technology.
“America can do both,” she wrote, calling for cooperation between federal and state governments to develop regulations that protect the public while allowing technological development to continue.
The governor urged Congress to consider AI’s broader implications, including its potential effects on public safety and the economy.
“The time for action — both for Virginians and Americans as a whole — is now,” Spanberger wrote.