Democrats planning flood of AI bills when they take control of Congress

By Courtney Rozen

WASHINGTON, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Democrats are planning to unleash a flood of new legislation targeting artificial intelligence systems and data-center development when they take control of the US Congress in January, lawmakers, congressional aides and advocates said.

The plans would mark a sharp shift from the Republican-led Congress, where lawmakers largely focused on promoting AI development and declined to pass legislation restricting aspects of the technology at a time when voters turned against the rapid development of data centers and their extensive power needs.

Democrats plan on introducing bills aimed at shielding consumers from rising electricity costs tied to data centers, requiring independent testing of advanced AI systems and clarifying when AI companies can be held liable for harm caused by their products, they said.

Any legislation would face steep odds while President Donald Trump remains in the White House, as he has repeatedly dismissed calls to write mandatory rules for AI technology.

But Democratic lawmakers and outside advocates said control of congressional committees would give the party a platform to advance proposals, compel testimony from industry leaders and build support for action if AI systems cause real-world harm. Representative Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat and chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, already said this week that AI executives should be called to testify under oath.

Federal government restrictions on AI development could hurt the industry's profits if they slow the release of new models or prompt the companies to change how their AI tools perform to address concerns that their products are harming people.

Technology shares sold off dramatically on Thursday on growing concerns that a new Congress will slow AI development, but also on fears that the massive capital expense on building out AI will not yield sufficient returns.

MULTIPLE BILLS LIKELY

Senator Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat who is expected to become majority leader, said on Thursday at an event in Washington that protecting consumers from higher energy costs linked to the rapid expansion of data centers would be among his priorities next year.

Representative Lori Trahan of Massachusetts, one of the Democratic Party's leading voices on AI policy, plans to push legislation requiring independent experts to evaluate leading AI models against safety standards, said Francis Grubar, her deputy chief of staff. Trahan will also pursue legislation clarifying that companies can be held responsible when AI systems act in harmful ways, he said.

Representative Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat from California who is seeking to chair the House Science Committee, said Democrats would focus on developing "responsible regulations for AI while also fostering innovation."

Abdul El-Sayed, a Michigan Democrat who won a Senate seat on Tuesday, called during his campaign for an independent agency to oversee AI regulation with the power to police tech companies developing the technology.

Public concern about AI is already high. Most US voters think Trump's administration and Congress are not taking the risks of AI seriously enough and want the government to ​write new regulations for the technology, according to a Reuters poll published in October. A crisis could build enough support to overcome presidential opposition to AI regulation, said Ed Mills, who manages policy research at Raymond James.

"The probability of legislation is much higher than people anticipate," he said.

Congress can override a presidential veto with the backing of two-thirds of lawmakers in both chambers. Democrats could also try to insert AI regulation into routine bills that must pass Congress each year, Mills said.

Democrats also plan to use their new authority to intensify scrutiny of the industry's most powerful companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic. Lofgren and other Democratic House committee leaders in October asked OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta META.O, Alphabet's GOOGL.O Google and SpaceX SPCX.O to detail their security practices and report instances of their AI tools taking actions that their designers did not intend.