Washington rushes to act on AI safeguards as Congress faces limited time

Washington is under pressure to respond to renewed concerns about artificial intelligence as leading U.S. AI companies warn that the technology is advancing faster than current safeguards can handle. Lawmakers and state officials are calling for clearer rules, while Congress faces a narrow legislative window before the midterm election recess. The debate intensified after executives and researchers from major AI firms, including Anthropic, OpenAI and xAI, signaled that the pace of AI development may be difficult to control. Senate and House Democrats have urged Congress to stay in session long enough to advance bipartisan safety measures, such as transparency requirements, model evaluations and other guardrails. House Speaker Mike Johnson has indicated that the chamber is still expected to adjourn soon, while some Republicans warn that moving too quickly could hurt U.S. competitiveness with China. The article says the House and Senate have several proposals on the table, but agreement has been slow and the timeline for action remains tight.