First Lady Melania Trump challenged elementary school students in North Carolina this week to build “the next great robot” and bring it to the White House.
The rapid growth of artificial intelligence is already reshaping the workplace and changing how people find and consume information.
Yet the idea of humanoid robots moving through private homes has unsettled some lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
“I mean, I’ve got kids. I don’t want my kids around robots,” Representative Ilhan Omar told Our News Outlet.
“That feels a little creepy.”
Representative Jamie Raskin cautioned that developing such robots could create “massive, pervasive, new, systemic risks,” including the danger that increasingly autonomous AI systems could become difficult for people to control.
Other lawmakers, including Representative Rich of Georgia, appeared more open to the prospect of having robots at home.
“You remember I, Robot, the Will Smith movie, right? Where they start doing everything around the house. People worry about those things turning on you someday. Who knows how that’s gonna work, but I’m not too worried about it. I think it’ll be a gradual process of people who can afford it, will have it.”
During a Tuesday visit with elementary school students in North Carolina, First Lady Melania Trump said it was “very important” for the United States to “lead” in artificial intelligence. She encouraged the students to build robots.
Asked how she would feel about having robots in her home, Representative Ilhan Omar said, “I mean, I’ve got kids. I don’t want my kids around robots. That feels a little creepy.”
“You remember I, Robot, the Will Smith movie, right? Where they start doing everything around the house. People worry about those things turning on you someday. Who knows how that’s gonna work, but I’m not too worried about it,” McCormick said of household robots.
Washington is increasing pressure on the fast-growing AI industry. Lawmakers have proposed broad rules that could require the most powerful AI companies to undergo independent safety reviews, report dangerous incidents to the government and maintain a “kill switch” capable of shutting down advanced systems during an emergency.
At the same time, leading AI companies are urging Washington to establish one national framework with mandatory safety testing and oversight requirements.
Representative Ro Khanna, a member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said he supports creating a new federal agency dedicated to supervising artificial intelligence.
Khanna said the agency could regulate AI in much the same way federal authorities oversee drugs, electricity and nuclear power.
He also raised concerns about AI systems capable of acting independently, citing the “P(doom)” score used by some engineers to estimate the likelihood that the technology could lead to catastrophe.
“The engineers go around with this thing called a P(doom) number,” he said. “Probability of doom is 10%, 12%, 5%.”
Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat from Washington, described Trump’s opposition to additional AI regulation as “destructive.”
Representative Ro Khanna, a member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said he supports creating a new federal agency to oversee artificial intelligence.
Khanna’s fellow ally, Representative Thomas Massie, argued that Washington should be cautious about moving too quickly on AI regulation.
‘I don’t think Donald Trump can save us from anything.’ Raskin argued that while existing laws already apply to AI, technological advances may require lawmakers to revisit those laws
She also criticized Trump’s relationships with major technology executives and said she does not believe the president’s opposition would stop demands for regulation.
Representative Thomas Massie warned Washington against rushing in, and said the loudest voices for regulation may have the most to gain.
Big tech companies, he argued, can absorb the cost of complex rules. Their smaller rivals can’t.
McCormick made the case for AI around competition from China.
‘I think if we start pumping the brakes with us, China’s gonna zoom right past us.’
Congressman Tim Burchett, a Republican from Tennessee is content to leave it to the president. ‘Yeah, he understands it. I trust him … It’s just the next president I worry about.’
But Democrats aren’t willing to wait, with Raskin arguing that Congress should rewrite rules before machines outrun human ability to control them.
Senator Richard Blumenthal said Trump’s dismissal of AI risk as a ‘hoax’ won’t survive contact with reality.
‘I think he’s gonna have to see that there is a freight train coming down the track.’
Omar wasn’t so sure : ‘We have to save ourselves.’
