Richard Blumenthal said that new artificial intelligence products should undergo some form of "objective review" before reaching consumers. #
Sen. Richard Blumenthal is urging the U.S. government to establish stronger oversight of artificial intelligence systems before they are released to the public, warning that the rapid pace of development could outstrip society's ability to manage potential risks.
The Connecticut Democrat told CNBC that new artificial intelligence products should undergo some form of "objective review" before reaching consumers, arguing that lawmakers need to find a balance between protecting the public and maintaining America's competitiveness in the global AI race.
"I think there is a balance here to be struck," Blumenthal said. "But the point is that right now we're on the verge of losing control completely." His comments come as policymakers continue debating how governments should respond to increasingly powerful AI models.
The senator has become one of the most prominent voices in Congress advocating for AI safety measures and recently introduced bipartisan legislation focused on evaluating potential risks associated with advanced AI systems.
The proposed approach would create a framework for reviewing AI capabilities and possible harms while avoiding broad restrictions that could slow technological development. "We have to remain competitive," Blumenthal said, acknowledging concerns that excessive regulation could weaken the United States' position against global competitors, particularly China.
The senator argued that regulation does not necessarily mean limiting innovation, but rather creating safeguards designed to prevent unintended consequences. "Nobody wants a regulatory state," Blumenthal said. "What we want is, in effect, some scrutiny to prevent the autonomous rogue bots out of the sandbox, infiltrating sites without the control of the developers who were responsible for them."
The debate comes amid growing disagreements among technology leaders over the future of AI governance. Executives including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman have raised concerns about the risks associated with increasingly capable AI systems and have called for careful consideration of development timelines.
At the same time, the Trump administration has rejected warnings that AI advancement poses an existential threat, arguing that maintaining U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence is critical to competing with China. Administration officials have emphasized the importance of accelerating innovation while avoiding policies they say could put American companies at a disadvantage.
Blumenthal said the government should look to existing regulatory models when considering AI oversight, pointing to the Food and Drug Administration's approach to evaluating pharmaceuticals before they enter the market.
"I think we need to delegate some of this responsibility to the experts," he said. "We are hardly experts in Congress on AI, and I think we need to understand our own limitations in this area."
The senator argued that technical experts should play a central role in evaluating AI systems because lawmakers may not have the specialized knowledge required to assess rapidly evolving technologies.
Blumenthal also pointed to social media as an example of what can happen when regulators act after a technology has already become deeply embedded in society. "We should learn, by the way, from our experience with social media, where the horse is out of the barn," he said, adding that algorithms are contributing to concerns about harmful content reaching children while policymakers continue trying to respond.
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