Johnson calls for AI solutions but says Congress won't take the lead

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Sunday that Congress won't lead the charge on regulating AI safety.

Why it matters: Calls for AI companies to adopt safety protocols reached a fever pitch this week, prompting the four biggest AI labs to endorse slowing their models' development.

Driving the news: Johnson was urged this week to cancel the House recess and bring representatives back to D.C. to pass a law on AI safeguards.

• During a Sunday appearance on CNN's "State of the Union," Johnson said Congress intervening isn't the answer and that AI companies can halt their work at any time.
• We have to "resist Congress jumping in and imposing some sort of emergency moratorium. It's got to be done right. Safely. Wisely."

What they're saying: Johnson said it is too risky to national security to stop all AI development "because China will overlap us" and proposed a meeting between President Trump, members of Congress, and the top AI officials who call the shots at their respective companies.

• Johnson added that he would prefer AI company leaders to take a leadership role and responsibility for ensuring the safety of their products, rather than pushing Congress to implement rules.
• "I always say to them, you have to do your part. Of course, you have a corporate responsibility to make sure your products are safe, and they're the ones pushing the envelope. And for them to cry out for us to stop it. You know, this is a partnership. They've got to be responsible on their own side," he said.
• Johnson's comments mirror former White House AI czar David Sacks, who said late Saturday that the major labs should simply pace development on their own, without the government having to intervene.

Zoom out: CNN's Jake Tapper pointed out that several AI leaders agreed with a 3,800-word essay published Saturday by Anthropic's Dario Amodei, in which he proposed slowing AI development and implementing more safety measures.

• Johnson seemed skeptical, saying that the companies "all have very different ideas on what the guardrails should be. There's no consensus among them. And Congress is obviously less qualified than the people who are pushing this frontier to know all the ins and outs of it."
• The House speaker also said Americans shouldn't panic over the technology and the doomsday warnings, though Axios' Andrew Solender reported last week that rank-and-file members of Congress are urging action.
• "We need to handle this new technology like we have others in the past, and make sure we're doing everything we can responsibly to also not smother American innovation. We have to do both things simultaneously," Johnson said.

Go deeper: Labs are begging for someone to slow the AI race