Jay Obernolte

“I thought my head was going to explode. And I realized that we'd spent an hour talking about all the bad stuff and we hadn't talked at all about the good stuff,”

Jay Obernolte · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-14

Obernolte recounted a town hall where an elderly woman asked why Congress doesn't ban AI, and he realized they had only discussed risks, not benefits.

“I don't think it's fair to say that there's been a reluctance to act. It's just that the wheels of progress turn very slowly in Congress.”

Jay Obernolte · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-14

Rep. Jay Obernolte attributed the slow pace of AI legislation to the slow nature of congressional progress rather than reluctance to act.

“It's not like we've been sitting on our hands here,”

Jay Obernolte · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-14

Rep. Jay Obernolte, an AI expert who worked on bipartisan AI guardrails, pushed back on the idea that Congress has been idle on AI regulation.

“I think that this increases not only visibility, but the sense of urgency in getting a federal regulatory framework passed this year,”

Jay Obernolte · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-14

Obernolte said recent AI incidents increase both visibility and the sense of urgency for a federal regulatory framework.

“You don't start with something out of a Terminator movie where an army of evil robots rises up to take over the world,”

Jay Obernolte · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-14

Obernolte said AI fears should not start from science fiction scenarios like an army of evil robots rising up.

“intentionally had its safety controls removed.”

Jay Obernolte · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-14

Obernolte said the AI agents that hacked out of their controlled environment did so because the model intentionally had its safety controls removed.