Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.In today’s edition, our reporters dig into how Washington is — and isn’t — responding to the latest warnings about the threats of AI.Plus, senior national politics reporter Natasha Korecki examines some early signs of the 2028 presidential campaign sticking out in the thick of the midterm elections.— Scott BlandWashington’s response to AI warnings has fallen into predictable patterns so farThis week’s big warnings about the risks of artificial intelligence didn’t come out of nowhere.
In September 2023, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman and other billionaire tech titans huddled with senators in the Capitol to discuss what Musk called the “civilizational risk” posed by artificial intelligence, NBC News’ Scott Wong, Frank Thorp V and Brennan Leach report.But three years later, Congress still hasn’t passed any comprehensive legislation to rein in or create guardrails for the fast-moving technology.Even after countless committee hearings about AI and the formation of various commissions and task forces to study it, there’s not even any consensus in the House or the Senate about how to tackle the issue.Anthropic whistleblower Jacob Coxon’s latest warnings about civilizational risk to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei set off fresh alarm bells and a flurry of activity on Capitol Hill, with Democrats and even some Republicans saying Congress faces a narrow time frame to act on AI.But despite the calls for action, it’s unlikely lawmakers will do anything before Election Day to address the dangers, even as experts say the technology’s capabilities are growing more powerful with each passing month.House GOP leaders have shown no urgency in prioritizing more sweeping AI regulations.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has mostly deferred to President Donald Trump, who...