First Lady Melania Trump challenged North Carolina elementary school students to build robots for the White House, promoting US leadership in artificial intelligence. The initiative has sparked debate among lawmakers, with some expressing serious safety concerns whilst others favour continued development. Representative Jamie Raskin warned that autonomous AI systems could create "massive, pervasive, new, systemic risks" and become difficult for humans to control, whilst Representative Ilhan Omar expressed discomfort with robots in homes around children.

Washington is intensifying pressure on the AI industry through proposed regulations, including mandatory independent safety checks, incident reporting requirements and emergency "kill switches" for advanced systems. Representative Ro Khanna has called for an entirely new federal agency to oversee artificial intelligence, similar to existing regulators for drugs and nuclear power. However, other lawmakers including Representative Thomas Massie have cautioned against rushing into regulation, arguing that large technology companies can more easily absorb compliance costs than smaller competitors. The debate also reflects concerns about competitive advantage, with some citing the need to match China's AI development pace.