Scott Wiener, author of AI bills, wins a US Congress race

Scott Wiener won the race to replace Nancy Pelosi, who was the Speaker of the House, in the US Congress. As a senator in California, he wrote SB 1047, which the governor vetoed in 2024, and SB 53, which the governor signed. The two bills are for AI safety. Some hours after the result, he told that the time to make AI rules is short.

What he wants

He supports these steps:

• a strong federal AI regulator
• protection for whistleblowers
• rules to test and audit AI
• a kill switch requirement, a rule to make AI systems stop

He also wants Congress to use its oversight tools on the AI labs.

The numbers

Public First Action, a nonprofit that Anthropic funds in large part, gave more than $3 million to his campaign. Voters approved 40 of 41 ballot measures against data centers on Tuesday. Wiener tells that this is about local costs, such as bills for electricity and water, and not about AI risk.

What is not known

Wiener tells that Congress does not seem to make a law this year. He is careful about hope that Congress can control AI. In September, the president told that the fear of catastrophic AI risk is a “hoax”.

Insight: The next dispute is state law against federal law

California has SB 53. New York has a draft bill for audits by a third party. Delaware has a draft bill on companies that agents operate. Some federal bills can replace state AI laws, and Wiener is against that. This reads as a dispute about who writes the rules, because a federal law that replaces state laws can erase them. Do not wait for one federal rule.