AI ‘dangerous on level of nuclear weapons’: Illinois Gov. Pritzker calls for federal regulation as slowdown debate rages

Urging Congress to pass federal guardrails on the technology, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said, “You can't do this state by state. This needs to be a national effort as well as an international endeavor, especially together with our allies, because AI is not going to go away.”

As debate around AI's apocalyptic nature continues, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called for federal regulation of artificial intelligence, contending that AI is dangerous "on the level of nuclear weapons."

Urging Congress to pass federal guardrails on the technology, Pritzker told ABC in an interview, “You can't do this state by state. This needs to be a national effort as well as an international endeavor, especially together with our allies, because AI is not going to go away."

He reportedly urged Congress to make federal regulations a top priority, calling the technology “dangerous on the level of nuclear weapons.”

Pritzker also touted legislation he signed in Illinois in July, requiring AI companies to conduct annual third-party audits of their safety plans and disclose safety incidents to the state.

A 'mistake'

Pritzker called the approach to "let the leaders of it [to] self-govern and self-regulate" a "mistake."

“They are okay with just letting it, you know, run rampant and let the leaders of it self-govern and self-regulate, and I think that's a mistake because we clearly have seen that there are breakouts that they don't control, and they haven't had any real interest in it,” Pritzker told ABC News.

“We don't need to shut it down entirely. What we need to do is make sure it doesn't get out of control," he added.

But Pritzker said he doesn’t support Sen. Bernie Sanders’ proposal to ban superintelligence.

“I think that you're not going to be able to is the point,” Pritzker said. “That's not going to happen because it's not like AI doesn't exist in the world already," he was quoted as saying.