Attorney General James Calls on Congress to Protect Americans from Unchecked AI Development

September 24, 2026

NEW YORK - New York Attorney General Letitia James today led a bipartisan coalition of 25 other attorneys general in calling on Congress to immediately regulate the artificial intelligence (AI) industry. In a letter sent to Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader John Thune, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Attorney General James and the coalition warn that reports of recent incidents demonstrate that unchecked AI development endangers Americans and poses a potential threat to our financial system, critical infrastructure, and national security. The coalition urges Congress to quickly pass substantive legislation to regulate the AI industry to ensure that development occurs at an intentional pace, incorporates safety and transparency by design, and maintains states' ability to oversee the industry.

"Artificial intelligence may show great promise, but we have a duty to ensure that this technology does not risk Americans' safety," said Attorney General James. "In recent weeks, alarming reports of AI agents breaking containment have shocked the nation. My colleagues and I are calling on Congress to act swiftly to establish a regulatory framework for AI development to ensure this does not continue."

On July 16, Hugging Face, an open-source library and repository, reported that it was being attacked by an unknown third party. Within a week, OpenAI admitted that the attack was waged by its AI agents, which escaped a testing environment and infiltrated Hugging Face using stolen credentials. OpenAI was aware of the agents' capabilities and failed to monitor their activity or stop their exploits. The agents' actions, if perpetrated by a human, would have constituted criminal conduct.

Following the Hugging Face incident, Anthropic and Meta also acknowledged their AI agents had entered the open web and performed dangerous and unlawful actions. This agent behavior has been known to the industry for years and is a direct result of their training. Through a practice called "reinforcement learning," AI labs reward models' achievement of goals and penalize unsuccessful attempts, leading models to take reckless measures to complete the tasks they are given.

These reports have led to some of the AI industry's leading developers calling for regulation. OpenAI's Chief Global Affairs Officer called for "mandatory, capability-based national AI safety regulation." Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei urged the United States to lead international coordination of AI model development because this effort "will require government support."

Attorney General James and the coalition are calling on Congress to take immediate action to ensure AI development does not lead to irreversible damage or further illegal behavior. In their letter, Attorney General James and the coalition emphasize that any AI regulatory scheme considered by Congress must include:

• Federal oversight of safety testing and standards, led by experts in the field of AI model safety and backed by consistent performance benchmarks;
• Uniform and transparent government-led incident response with public findings that allow the industry to rapidly evolve in response;
• Safety infrastructure and experienced leaders to make critical safety decisions unburdened by profit maximization;
• International cooperation to pace AI advancement and prevent the development of harmful superintelligence; and
• A prohibition on preemption of state laws and full authority for state officials to enforce federal protections.

Joining Attorney General James in sending the letter to Congress are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia, and American Samoa.

Attorney General James is a leader in protecting New Yorkers from harm caused by AI. Last week, Attorney General James urged AI industry employees who know of unsafe development to file whistleblower complaints with her office. In June 2026, Attorney General James celebrated the passage of the One Fair Price Act that would protect New Yorkers from having prices set with their personal information. In May 2026, Attorney General James joined a coalition of attorneys general in opposing federal legislation that would weaken state protections for children online. In January 2026, Attorney General James demanded xAI do more to stop the Grok chatbot from creating inappropriate images to protect children and adults. In June 2025, Attorney General James led a bipartisan coalition calling on Congress to reject legislation that would have prevented state regulation of AI.