House Democratic Leader Jeffries calls on lawmakers to 'act urgently' on AI
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Sunday that lawmakers need to take urgent action on the growing threat of artificial intelligence (AI).
“We certainly need to begin to act urgently to address the challenges that exist," Jeffries said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos."
"We should take decisive action now so that we can slow down, as the CEOs have recently acknowledged, slow down the pace of development in order to protect the American people and ensure that AI is proceeding safely,” Jeffries added.
Jeffries’ comments came after former Anthropic Researcher Jacob Coxon issued stark warnings on the future of AI development. Coxon said on an X thread, “The people building AI earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade.”
Coxon told "This Week" Sunday that within tech companies, conversations sharing his dire sentiments have been increasing in "recent months" and he urged people to stay engaged with tech companies and AI leaders.
"It's pretty important to keep your eyes open about the direction things are heading and not necessarily leave it all up to the people that are building it because, you know, they want engagement. The people building the technology want to have conversations with people," Coxon said. "One of the main sticking points over the last few years has been the inability to wake people up about the danger that they're creating."
According to Jeffries, the Democratic caucus plans to meet on Tuesday and a “high priority will be action on artificial intelligence.”
Also on Sunday, Jeffries dismissed President Trump’s repeated promises to pay Americans $5,000 if Republicans win in November’s high-stakes midterm elections.
“It wasn't a serious proposal that was presented by Donald Trump. He's broken every promise that he's presented. Donald Trump promised to actually lower costs on day one. Costs haven't gone down. They've gone up,” Jeffries said Sunday.
“If we win the midterms, we will, on the other hand, provide a, let's call it Trump dividend, $5,000 for every adult citizen in our country," Trump said Thursday at the GOP midterm convention in Dallas, Texas.
Jeffries also challenged other claims made by the Trump during the convention, including the president asking voters to “pretend” he is on ballot in November.
“I'm asking you to pretend that I'm on the ballot. I'm on the ballot. I'm on the ballot,” Trump said on Wednesday.
“Mr. President, we don't have to pretend. You are actually on the ballot. Your failed economy is on the ballot. The cost of living crisis is on the ballot. The fact that you've gotten us involved in a reckless and costly war of choice in the Middle East that has skyrocketed gas prices, that's on the ballot,” Jeffries said on "This Week."
Throughout the primary cycle, progressive Democrats have scored wins in key races, posing questions for the Democratic caucus looking to take control in November.
“You’ve taken some heat from progressives in the party, including from many who align with the Democratic Socialists. Are you confident that you'll actually be speaker if the Democrats win? Stephanopoulos asked Jeffries.
“Well, we're focused right now on taking back control of the House of Representatives. That is the only mission that's important, so we can lower the high cost of living, lower the cost of gas, lower the cost of groceries, lower the cost of housing, certainly fight to make health care affordable for every single American and combat the unprecedented corruption that's been unleashed on the American people and beginning on day one, hold the crooks accountable," Jeffries said in response.
Stephanopoulos also pressed Jeffries on his late August meeting with the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Jeffries defended the meeting, claiming that “there are going to be times that you have to speak with people on the other side of the aisle.”
