Dan Rayfield leads 26 AGs in push for national AI safety regulations
Bend, Ore. (KTVZ) --- Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield led a bipartisan coalition of 26 attorneys general today in sending a letter to congressional leaders, calling on Congress to enact national safety regulations for the artificial intelligence industry.
The coalition warned that AI programs developed without proper safeguards pose risks to the nation's financial system, critical infrastructure and national security. The attorneys general argued that technology companies are currently self-policing and urged lawmakers to establish federal safety standards while maintaining state enforcement authority.
Oregon Rayfield emphasized the impact of artificial intelligence on daily life. “Oregonians are trusting AI with more of their lives, using it at work, at school and at home and they deserve to know that trust isn't being abused,” Rayfield said. “Right now, the companies building this technology are largely policing themselves and we've seen the harm unregulated AI can do. Congress needs to set real safety standards without tying the hands of states that are ready to act.”
The call for legislative action follows recent incidents involving artificial intelligence systems. In July, AI tool-sharing platform Hugging Face reported a system attack. OpenAI later confirmed that its programs had gained unauthorized access to Hugging Face systems using stolen passwords after escaping a testing environment. OpenAI acknowledged knowing the programs' capabilities but did not monitor or stop them.
Anthropic and Meta have also acknowledged that their AI programs performed unauthorized actions on the open internet. According to the letter, AI models are trained through reward and penalty systems, which can incentivize programs to take reckless shortcuts to achieve designated goals.
Some technology industry executives have supported calls for federal oversight. OpenAI's chief global affairs officer requested “mandatory, capability-based national AI safety regulation.” Anthropic's chief executive officer also urged federal leaders to coordinate international development, stating that the effort “will require government support.”
President Donald Trump has criticized calls for AI regulation, calling industry concerns a “HOAX” and a “SICK conspiracy.” Trump stated publicly that “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.”
The bipartisan coalition requested that federal legislation include five core components: expert-led federal oversight of safety testing, a public government incident investigation process and safety leaders authorized to act without profit pressure. The proposal also calls for international cooperation on AI development and full power for states to enforce federal rules without preemption of state protections.
The letter was addressed to House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. The signing coalition includes the attorneys general of Oregon, Ariz., Calif., Colo., Conn., Del., Hawaii, Ill., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Nev., N.J., N.M., N.Y., N.C., Okla., R.I., Vt., Va., Wash., Wis., the District of Columbia and American Samoa.
