Pritzker compares AI to nuclear weapons, demands federal regulation while eyeing 2028
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (worth $4.2 billion dollars) is pushing Congress to treat artificial intelligence as a threat comparable to nuclear weapons, while simultaneously auditioning for a national stage with less than seven weeks until the midterms.Pritzker, a Democrat, sat for an exclusive interview on ABC's "This Week" that aired Sunday, urging federal lawmakers to make AI regulation a top priority. He called the technology dangerous "on the level of nuclear weapons" and took direct aim at President Trump's approach to the industry, accusing the administration of letting AI companies police themselves.
The governor signed an AI safety law in Illinois in July that requires companies to submit to annual third-party audits of their safety plans and disclose safety incidents to the state. But Pritzker argued that state-level action is not enough, and that Washington's inaction amounts to recklessness.
In the interview with co-anchor Jonathan Karl, Pritzker told ABC News that AI regulation must be a national and international effort because the technology cannot be contained by any single state.
Comparing a commercial technology to nuclear weapons is the kind of rhetoric that sounds serious without doing any of the work of being serious.
President Trump has called AI fears a "hoax" and announced the formation of an "AI Force" aimed at accelerating growth in the industry.
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