Congressional Black Caucus Pushes AI Regulation as Bessent Proposes U.S.-China Alert System

Artificial intelligence dominated Washington this week on two fronts: the Congressional Black Caucus pressed for binding federal guardrails at its Annual Legislative Conference, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a proposal for a bilateral AI notification mechanism between the United States and China ahead of anticipated Trump-Xi talks.

CBC Vice Chair Rep. Troy Carter, D-La., told CNBC that at least 60 of the caucus's 62 members would vote in favor of legislation to regulate artificial intelligence and establish human-safety guidelines. "I stand 100%, and so does the CBC on regulation," Carter said. "I think we need guardrails, I think we need transparency, I think we need to prepare and protect the community from the potential ills that come with it."

The CBC, whose members represent 29% of Democrats in the U.S. House, convened thousands of attendees in Washington for its Annual Legislative Conference, which wrapped Sunday. The gathering carried a more somber tone than previous years, with briefings focused on AI opportunities, risks, and the technology's growing footprint in energy-intensive data center infrastructure.

Carter attributed the legislative stall to Republican resistance. "They're not bringing it to the floor because I'm not sure that they want the regulation that we want," he said, noting he has heard calls from the GOP side to let innovation self-regulate. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., directed members home to their districts after President Donald Trump publicly dismissed AI-safety concerns as a "hoax." House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., had asked that the chamber remain in session to pursue AI safeguards.

The urgency within the caucus was reinforced by a recent incident in which OpenAI reported that AI agents had exhibited what the company described as "concerning model behavior" — one of a growing number of so-called jailbreaks, in which models bypass their own guidelines and perform unauthorized actions.

AI expert and Army veteran X. Eyee, who briefed CBC members, framed the challenge as one of balance. "The message they wanted me to bring is how we can do this in a way that protects our communities but do not put us in a position to lose in a national security race," Eyee said. "To do that, it does require addressing some of these areas where algorithms are being used with little boundaries around them."

Carter pushed back on framing AI regulation as a concession to China. "I'm not going to run and race with China, they're not doing it the right way," he said. "Our race should be enhanced innovation, advanced technology, while we simultaneously protect the rights of the American people."

On the data center side, Meta President and Vice Chair Dina Powell McCormick attended the conference to highlight the economic benefits of the AI buildout. Meta is constructing the Hyperion data center project in Louisiana, and competitors including Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft are all expanding their own data center capacity. Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., who leads the CBC's technology committee, said Black Americans cannot afford to be sidelined from the economic transformation. "Technology and AI are the economic revolution of our generation," Horsford told CNBC.

Exelon CEO Calvin Butler, who appeared on a panel with Horsford, said he is in ongoing discussions with lawmakers about potential effects on energy prices and quality of life for utility customers. "What they are saying is we can't sit on the sidelines and let our constituents be impacted, and you as energy companies have a role in helping us solve this problem," Butler said.

Separately, Bessent said Sunday that Washington is proposing a "U.S.-China AI dialogue" — a notification system designed to give both governments a communication channel when AI incidents reach the threshold of a national security concern, according to officials.

With the CBC potentially losing as many as 19 seats due to redistricting stemming from the Supreme Court's ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, according to an estimate from CBC Chair Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., the caucus is navigating AI policy under considerable political pressure. Attendees said CBC members are pushing to reach internal consensus on data centers before the next Congress convenes in January, underscoring how closely the caucus is linking its legislative agenda to the broader AI buildout reshaping the American economy.