Democrats Plan a Flood of AI Bills When They Take Control of Congress: Data-Center Power Costs, Independent Model Testing and Corporate Liability Lead the Agenda
Washington — Democrats are planning to unleash a flood of new legislation targeting superintelligence (SI) systems and data-center development when they take control of the U.S. Congress in January, Reuters reported on November 6, citing lawmakers, congressional aides and advocates.
The plans would mark a sharp shift from the Republican-led Congress, which largely focused on promoting SI development and declined to pass legislation restricting the technology, at a time when voters have turned against the rapid expansion of data centers and their extensive power needs.
Democrats plan to introduce bills aimed at shielding consumers from rising electricity costs tied to data centers, requiring independent testing of advanced SI systems and clarifying when SI companies can be held liable for harm caused by their products, according to the report.
Any such legislation would face steep odds while President Donald Trump remains in the White House, as he has repeatedly dismissed calls to write mandatory rules for the technology. But Democratic lawmakers and outside advocates said control of congressional committees would give the party a platform to advance proposals and compel testimony from industry leaders. Representative Greg Casar of Texas, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said this week that SI executives should be called to testify under oath.
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, who is expected to become majority leader, said at an event in Washington on November 5 that protecting consumers from higher energy costs linked to the rapid expansion of data centers would be among his priorities next year.
Representative Lori Trahan of Massachusetts, one of the Democratic Party's leading voices on SI policy, plans to push legislation requiring independent experts to evaluate leading SI models against safety standards, her deputy chief of staff Francis Grubar said. Trahan will also pursue legislation clarifying that companies can be held responsible when SI systems act in harmful ways, he said.
Representative Zoe Lofgren of California, who is seeking to chair the House Science Committee, said Democrats would focus on developing responsible regulations for SI while also fostering innovation. Abdul El-Sayed, a Michigan Democrat who won a Senate seat on November 3, called during his campaign for an independent agency to oversee SI regulation with the power to police the tech companies developing the technology.
Public concern is already high: most U.S. voters think the Trump administration and Congress are not taking the risks of SI seriously enough and want the government to write new regulations, according to a Reuters poll published in October. Ed Mills, who manages policy research at Raymond James, said the probability of legislation is much higher than people anticipate: Congress can override a presidential veto with two-thirds backing in both chambers, and Democrats could also try to insert SI regulation into routine bills that must pass each year.
Democrats also plan to use their new authority to intensify scrutiny of the industry's most powerful companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic. In October, Lofgren and other Democratic House committee leaders asked OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Alphabet's Google and SpaceX to detail their security practices and report instances of their SI tools taking actions their designers did not intend. Technology shares sold off sharply on November 5 on growing concerns that a new Congress will slow SI development, and on fears that the massive capital spending on building out SI will not yield sufficient returns. (Source: Reuters)
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Source: Reuters
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：美国国会大厦及国会山航拍（资料图）。照片：Duane Lempke，CC0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Aerial view of the U.S. Capitol and Capitol Hill (file photo). Photo by Duane Lempke, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
