Pelosi's Successor in Congress Calls for Slowing AI Development

Scott Wiener, author of California AI bills SB 1047 and SB 53, won the US House election in Nancy Pelosi's district and told MIT Technology Review that the US needs to "slow down" AI development due to the risk of "recursive self-improvement," citing a METR report.

Compiled by Sergey KostenchukPublished 2026-11-10Updated 2026-11-10

2026-11-10 Safety

🛡 Pelosi's Successor in Congress Calls for Slowing AI Development

California State Senator and author of AI laws SB 1047 and SB 53, Scott Wiener, won the congressional election in Nancy Pelosi's district. In an interview with MIT Technology Review, he stated that the US needs to "slow down" AI development due to the risk of "recursive self-improvement," citing a METR report.

🌍 His path is already indicative: SB 1047 was vetoed by Governor Newsom, while the softer SB 53 was signed. In Congress, he will advocate for a federal AI regulator, frontier model audits, "kill switches," and whistleblower protections, while opposing the displacement of state laws.

👤 For readers, this serves as a guide to what requirements may emerge for AI providers. The second topic of this issue is protests against data centers in Ashburn: not fear of AI, but electricity consumption.

Source 1: https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/11/10/1148150/the-download-pelosi-successor-ai-regulation-data-center-backlash/

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