Lawmakers Behind Strictest US AI Laws Urge Tech Companies to Slow Down

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

New York State Senator Andrew Gounardes, New York State Assemblymember Alex Bores, Illinois State Representative Daniel Didech, Illinois State Senator Mary Edly-Allen, and California State Senator Scott Wiener issued the following statement:

As the AI labs race to create ever more powerful AI systems, the question of how we can best protect the public from the risks they present has become even more urgent. This question was thrown into sharp relief by recent reports of AI agents scheming on how to cheat tests, hacking companies in the real world, and even trying to trick humans into installing malicious software.

These behaviors are alarming and should serve as a warning shot to us all. If researchers cannot reliably prevent their models from going rogue, much of our digital infrastructure and the essential systems that keep our society running are at risk.

As the lead lawmakers behind the three strongest state-level frontier AI safety laws enacted in the country (so far), we believe that the frontier labs must engage with the seriousness of purpose that this moment demands. Given the urgency, we call on them to work together to eliminate the risk that a catastrophe will result from their rush to build highly capable AI systems before solving problems of alignment and safety.

Coordinated initiatives to pace the frontier of AI development are likely the only mechanisms capable of preventing such a catastrophe. It is critical that frontier labs work together until progress on alignment and safety have demonstrably surpassed the breakneck pace of their race to produce highly capable AI systems.

We call on all frontier AI laboratories to immediately establish a Mutually Agreed Pacing Framework (MAP Framework) that is jointly negotiated and independently verifiable by third parties.

To be clear, we do not view this as a replacement for robust actions at the state, federal, and/or international levels. We are simply responding to the speed of developments by asking everyone to play their part, recognizing that the pace of these advancements is likely to exceed the current speed of government action. The frontier labs have the technical expertise and the moral responsibility to take extraordinary action to address the challenges they have set in motion; we urge them to establish this framework immediately.

Assemblymember Alex Bores

New York State Assembly

Senator Andrew Gounardes

New York State Senate

Representative Daniel Didech

Illinois House of Representatives

Senator Mary Edly-Allen

Illinois State Senate

Senator Scott Wiener

California State Senate