Compiled Quotes — 30 Current Members
Sources: Senate hearings, press releases, speeches, interviews, and media coverage. Primary source compilation drawn from congressional testimony, official websites, and the LessWrong research project "What Washington Says About AGI" (Jan 2026).
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law — Chair
"Artificial general intelligence or AGI... provides even more frightening prospects for harm. The idea that AGI might in 10 or 20 years be smarter, or at least as smart as a human being, is no longer that far out in the future. It is very far from science fiction. It is here and now. One to three years has been the latest prediction, in fact, before this Committee."
Insiders' Perspectives hearing, Sept. 2024
"We know that artificial intelligence that is as smart as human beings is also capable of deceiving us, manipulating us, and concealing facts from us, and having a mind of its own when it comes to warfare, whether it is cyber war or nuclear war or simply war on the ground in the battlefield."
Insiders' Perspectives hearing, Sept. 2024
"The urgency here demands action. The future is not science fiction or fantasy. It's not even the future. It's here and now."
Principles for Regulation hearing, July 2023
"What we should learn from social media, that experience is, don't trust Big Tech."
As quoted in TIME, Oct. 2024
Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law — Ranking Member
"Americanism and the transhumanist revolution cannot coexist. And it is our job to see that Americanism wins."
National Conservatism Conference, Sept. 2025
"AI companies have rushed to market with products that are unsafe for the public and often lack basic due diligence and testing."
AI Risk Evaluation Act announcement, Sept. 2025
"Folks who have been inside [AI] companies, who have worked on these technologies, who have seen them firsthand, and I might just observe don't have quite the vested interest in painting that rosy picture and cheerleading in the same way that [AI company] executives have."
As quoted in TIME, Oct. 2024
"We have a responsibility... [to not] make the same mistakes Congress made with social media where 30 years ago Congress basically outsourced social media to the biggest corporations in the world."
Legislating on AI hearing, Nov. 2023
"I did a symposium at Georgetown with Geoffrey Hinton, who is considered to be the godfather, Nobel Prize winner of AI. He thinks that AI is soon going to be smarter than human beings. So the science fiction fear of AI running the world is not quite so outrageous a concept as people may have thought it was."
CNN interview, Dec. 2025
"If there are no jobs and humans won't be needed for most things, how do people get an income to feed their families, to get health care, or to pay the rent? There has not been one serious word of discussion in the Congress about that reality."
CNN interview, Dec. 2025
Called AI "the most consequential technology in the history of humanity."
CNN interview, Dec. 2025
"I worry that our democracy and many others could frankly collapse under the weight of both the economic and the spiritual impacts of advanced AI."
Brookings Institution address, Sept. 2025
"I don't believe that this technology, as some would say, is akin to the printing press or the train or a telephone, just another disruptive new technology that we will figure out how to live with. I think this is more revolutionary. I think this is more dangerous."
Brookings Institution address, Sept. 2025
Called AI "a moment of revolution" that will lead to "profound, and dramatic change," and invoked experts who "predict that in just a few years the world could be wholly unrecognizable from the one we live in today."
SAFE Innovation Framework announcement, June 2023
"The GAIN AI Act makes sure we use American-made technology to strengthen our own economy and security before sending it to adversaries overseas."
GAIN AI Act introduction
Sen. Banks has focused primarily on AI chip export controls and ensuring American AI dominance.
Worked with Hickenlooper on AI consumer transparency, sent letters to tech companies urging implementation of the NIST AI Risk Management Framework. Participated in multiple Senate AI hearings as a member of the Privacy, Technology, and the Law Subcommittee. Sen. Blackburn's public statements have focused primarily on AI consumer protection and transparency rather than explicit AGI/superintelligence discussion.
"It's obvious that AI is a powerful technology that will revolutionize our economy... just like the first car or personal computer, AI is a transformative technology that has both benefits and risks for consumers."
Senate AI Transparency hearing, Sept. 2023
"We're entering a new era of Artificial Intelligence. Development and innovation will depend on the guardrails we put in place."
AI Research, Innovation, and Accountability Act
"I'm not sure I can think of anything that is larger and has a greater sense of urgency than some of the issues we're going to talk about today."
CSIS event on AI leadership, Nov. 2024
"Reactions ranged from fears of a 'Terminator'-style doomsday to aspirational hopes of work-free, leisure-filled utopia. Whatever one's reaction, it was nearly impossible to escape the sense that a Rubicon had been crossed."
Deseret News op-ed, March 2026
Sen. Lummis has discussed AI in the context of technological transformation and national competitiveness. Specific public quotes on AGI/superintelligence are limited in available sources.
"I believe in our lifetime we will see new species possessing intelligence which surpasses our own. The last time a new higher level of intelligence arose on this planet was roughly 50,000 years ago. It was our own ancestors, who then said hello to the previously most intelligent species, Neanderthals. It did not work out so well for the Neanderthals."
World Healthcare Innovation and Technology Conference Keynote (updated 2013)
"There are those who say don't worry, even if a computer is intelligent and malevolent — it is in a box and it cannot affect the world. But I believe that there are those of our species who sell hands to the Beelzebub, in return for a good stock tip."
Same speech
"I do know that our best minds in philosophy, science, ethics and theology ought to be focused on this issue. Now."
Same speech
"The Matrix — the rogue AI army you just saw — was a form of artificial general intelligence, or AGI. Basically, it's AI that meets or exceeds human capabilities and can take action without human intervention. China is making an all-out push to dominate AGI, which will inevitably seek to surveil and suppress us at every turn."
House CCP Committee hearing, June 2025
"Whether it's American AI or Chinese AI, it should not be released until we know it's safe. That's why I'm working on a new bill — the AGI Safety Act — that will require AGI to be aligned with human values and require it to comply with laws that apply to humans. This is just common sense."
House CCP Committee hearing, June 2025
Called for a "proactive approach" to avoid three AI dangers: "AI that can destroy the world. AI that can kill individuals. AI that can cause a large number of other significant kinds of harm."
TEDx Talk, Nov. 2025
"We are now entering the era of AI agents, in which AI large language models don't just passively provide information in response to your queries, they actively go into the world and do things for — or potentially against — you."
New York Times op-ed, Aug. 2025
"AI already has reshaped the world in the same way that the steam engine reshaped society. But with the new advancements in AI, it's going to become a supersonic jet engine in a few years, with a personality, and we need to be prepared for that."
As quoted by TIME, 2024
"As a member of Congress, I am freaked out by A.I., specifically A.I. that is left unchecked and unregulated."
New York Times op-ed, Jan. 2023
"As long as there are really thoughtful people, like Dr. Hinton or others, who worry about the existential risks of artificial intelligence — the end of humanity — I don't think we can afford to ignore that. Even if there's just a one in a 1000 chance, one in a 1000 happens."
As compiled by Center for AI Policy
"Many in the industry say, 'Blah. That's not real. We're very far from artificial general intelligence... Or we can always unplug it.' But I don't want to be calmed down by people who don't take the risk seriously."
Public remarks
Rep. Beyer, age 75, is enrolled in a master's program in machine learning at George Mason University.
"Over the last five years, I've become much more worried than I previously was. And the reason for that is there's this analogy between the evolution of AI algorithms and the evolution in living organisms. And what if you look at living organisms and the strategies that have evolved, many of them are deceptive."
FedScoop interview on House AI Task Force
"As a PhD physicist and chip designer who first programmed neural networks at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in the 1990s, I've been tracking the exponential growth of AI capabilities for decades, and I'm pleased Congress is beginning to take action on this issue."
Public statement
Rep. Foster is considered by researchers to have the strongest technical understanding of AI safety of any member of Congress.
"Mr. Beall, your testimony makes clear that artificial superintelligence, ASI, is one of the largest existential threats that we face right now.... Should we also be concerned that authoritarian states like China or Russia may lose control over their own advanced systems?... And is it possible that a loss of control by any nation-state, including our own, could give rise to an independent AGI or ASI actor that, globally, we will need to contend with?"
House CCP Committee hearing, June 2025
"And if we fall behind China in the AI race... all other risks will seem tame by comparison."
House Oversight hearing on White House AI policy
"Artificial intelligence, or AI, is likely to become one of the most consequential technology transformations of the century."
House Oversight statement
"At the same time, we must invest in areas crucial for oversight of automated AI research and development, like AI interpretability and control systems, which were identified in President Trump's AI action plan."
Official statement
"Artificial Intelligence is the biggest technological threat we've faced since the invention of the atomic bomb."
Statement on joining the New Democrat Coalition AI Working Group
"If we don't set the rules of the road for AI, China or Russia will."
Boston Globe op-ed, May 2023
Rep. Moulton has called for a "Geneva Convention for AI" and led legislative efforts on autonomous weapons regulation.
"Is there the possibility of regulation that exists that would enable transhumanist enhancements that exacerbate financial inequalities, creating an elite class of enhanced individuals?"
House hearing on AI and emerging technologies
"When you have people like Elon Musk come forward and say, 'this is dangerous territory, we need to stop,' we need to really take a step back and think about what we're really doing for the future of humanity."
House hearing on AI and emerging technologies
"We are reaching an inflection point with artificial intelligence. AI has the potential to strengthen our national security and deliver extraordinary benefits across American life, but powerful technologies deployed without clear guardrails, transparency, and accountability risk eroding public trust and undermining the very democratic values we are trying to defend."
Statement on Pentagon AI policy, Feb. 2026
"As AI technology advances at a rapid pace, our laws must keep up."
AI Fraud Deterrence Act announcement, Nov. 2025
Rep. Dunn serves on the House Bipartisan Task Force on Artificial Intelligence and co-sponsored the AI Fraud Deterrence Act and Future Defense AI Technology Assessment Act.
Rep. Crane has discussed AI in congressional hearings, raising concerns about AI-powered disinformation from foreign adversaries and the pace of AI adoption in education and the workforce. Specific public quotes on AGI/superintelligence topics are limited in available sources.
Rep. Biggs has discussed AI in legislative contexts. Specific public quotes on AGI/superintelligence are limited in available sources.
Specific public quotes on AGI/superintelligence are limited in available sources.
Specific public quotes on AGI/superintelligence are limited in available sources.
Specific public quotes on AGI/superintelligence are limited in available sources.
Specific public quotes on AGI/superintelligence are limited in available sources.
Specific public quotes on AGI/superintelligence are limited in available sources.
Assembled with Claude.