GoKawiilNew artificial intelligence products should be subject to some form of "objective review" before their release, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told CNBC on Wednesday.
The senator, who has introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at addressing AI safety risks, stressed that any new regulation should be targeted and sensitive to concerns about stifling global competitiveness.
"I think there is a balance here to be struck," Blumenthal said on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street." "But the point is that right now we're on the verge of losing control completely," he said.
The remarks came as tech industry leaders, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and OpenAI's Sam Altman, have sounded alarms about the major risks of rapidly advancing AI models and called for a slowdown in the technology's development.
President Donald Trump, however, has vehemently pushed back on those fears, calling them a "hoax" and a "scam." His administration argues that beating China in the race to AI dominance is an all-important goal.
Blumenthal, who has emerged as a prominent voice on AI safety, said he also worries that regulation could dull the U.S.'s AI edge.
"We have to remain competitive," he told CNBC.
But "China is understanding that it needs to regulate AI because it could be a threat to their regime," he added.