Senator Ruben Gallego is escalating his call for aggressive federal oversight of artificial intelligence, warning that the technology’s most serious risks are arriving faster than Congress can confront them — and accusing Trump of ignorantly dismissing the need for meaningful guardrails.
“This technology is unlike anything that we have seen before,” Gallego said “When we turned on the internet, it didn’t have autonomy. When we created the nuclear weapon, it didn’t have the decision-making power to drop itself. But, with AI, Dr. Frankenstein is telling us the monster is on the loose. Congress needs to act.”
Gallego’s remarks come amid mounting warnings from within the AI industry itself. He pointed to former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon, who left the company and warned AI could grow “smart enough to kill us.”
Gallego also cited comments by Anthropic scientist Evan Hubinger, who said the industry “earnestly believes” there is more than a 10 percent chance that AI “could kill all humans” within the next decade.
Senate select committee on AI
Gallego argued that Washington can no longer afford to treat AI as merely another consumer technology. He said lawmakers need to bring “experts, skeptics, regulators, and government” into a coordinated effort to rein in A.I. before its economic, social and security consequences become irreversible.
At the center of Gallego’s proposal is a new bipartisan Senate Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence.
The committee, he said, would conduct hearings on national-security risks and examine AI’s consequences for children, consumers, privacy, civil rights, elections and critical infrastructure. It would also investigate the growing energy demands for widely unpopular data centers.
“AI is likely to be one of the most transformative technologies in human history,” Gallego said, while acknowledging its potential benefits. “It has already improved productivity across industries, expanded access to expert-level knowledge, and been used for groundbreaking medical research.”
But, he added, “It’s time to keep the pace and place guardrails on this technology before it’s too late.”
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Gallego targets Trump
Gallego reserved some of his sharpest criticism for Trump, whom he described as a major obstacle to serious AI regulation.
“There is a notable holdout,” Gallego said. “One person who doesn’t think we need to seriously regulate AI. You guessed it: President Trump.”
Gallego cited Trump’s social-media statements arguing that AI does not need government constraints, bloviating instead that the country needs “a strong and smart (High IQ!) President.” Trump has also defended the growth of AI-related data centers, writing that opposition to them amounts to a “sick conspiracy” that benefits China and declaring, “Whoever wins AI, wins!”
For Gallego, that posture ignores increasingly urgent public fears about a technology that could remake the workforce, reshape political communication and put vast amounts of personal data at risk.
“Americans are rightfully scared about what’s happening right now,” Gallego said. “They’re scared that their jobs are going to be taken. They’re scared that their lives are going to be taken. They’re scared of the unknown.”
He argued that Trump’s negligent approach is focused on political spectacle than on the huge risks of A.I.
“The president just doesn’t seem to agree,” Gallego said. “That should tell you all you need to know about who he fights for and what concerns him most.”
Congress needs to act
Gallego framed the AI debate as more than a fight over innovation, business competition or consumer convenience. In his telling, it tests whether elected officials can respond to a technology that affects nearly every aspect of modern life s.
His proposed Senate committee would put AI’s risks — from election interference and civil-rights violations to grid demands, privacy concerns and national-security threats — under sustained congressional scrutiny.
The warning is blunt: Gallego says lawmakers cannot simply trust the industry to police itself. “Congress needs to act.”
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