Companies ‘Can Stop Any Time They Want To’: Congress Presses Bessent On AI Oversight

Department of Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent faced lawmakers Tuesday in the House Financial Services Committee who are seeking answers on rising costs, the ongoing war in Iran, artificial intelligence (AI), and the administration’s approach to regulation.

“They can stop any time they want to,” Bessent said when asked about growing concerns about artificial intelligence companies. The secretary was also asked about recent warnings from AI industry leaders to which he said the Trump administration “has been at the forefront of examining” AI models, adding, “we began model examination more than five or six months ago.”

The secretary went on to add, “the best way to guarantee safety is that the creators are liable for what they build and generate and put out into the economy and to the American people and to the world populace.”

President Donald Trump has emphasized his support for the emerging industry, calling concerns about the potential harm AI poses to humanity a “HOAX.” (RELATED: John Kennedy Introducing Bill To Require ‘Kill Switch’ On AI Models)

AI executives in recent days called for guardrails on the technology. Anthropic’s Dario Amodei posted an essay on X in which he said they must “Pace the Frontier.” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI CEO Elon Musk publicly agreed with Amodei’s characterization.

I resigned from Anthropic today. I spent the last three years doing pretraining research at both OpenAI and Anthropic. Neither company is acting responsibly. They are racing straight to self-improving superintelligence and gambling with our lives. More thoughts below.

Jacob Coxen, an AI developer for OpenAI and Anthropic, made waves on social media when he announced he was leaving Anthropic over the risks the technology poses, saying the companies are “gambling with our lives.” Coxen’s post garnered over 171 million impressions on X.

House Speaker Mike Johnson chimed in on the debate, announcing he will hold a meeting with Trump and the heads of pioneering AI labs later in September. When asked about concerns surrounding the technology, Johnson said, “They can self-police. They can self-regulate.”