AI insiders expect a crippling attack within 12 months and are already courting Congress

Many people in the AI industry anticipate a major AI-driven incident within six to 12 months. Executives at Anthropic, OpenAI and other big developers are already working on the lawmakers who will write the rules afterward, according to Axios.

Executives acknowledge there’s no way any AI bill will pass now, so they’re trying to get out in front of the emergency legislation Washington would write once the first disaster hits.

Sanders bill would jail violators for up to 20 years

Planners expect Democrats to come out of the November 3 midterms in a stronger position and move promptly against advanced AI. But the push clashes with an older Congress that doesn’t get the technology, an economy that depends on data-center spending and open-weight models that anyone can download today.

Companies don’t think control of both chambers will end the infighting, splits among Democrats included.

Proposals range from a superintelligence ban to a pause on advanced development. One comes from Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Greg Casar, which is named the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act.

It would ban AI that matches or outperforms humans on a wide range of tasks and stop advanced work until a new federal agency formulates safety standards. Penalties can include up to 20 years in prison.

Mandatory kill switches for advanced models are supported by both parties and parts of the industry. Some experts are questioning whether all artificial intelligence systems can even be turned off.

One Democratic aide cited the 2008 financial crisis and COVID as examples of Congress moving speedily in previous emergencies.

Anthropic and OpenAI planners fear a hack that cuts power and water

The most likely scenario is a cyberattack big enough to knock out banks, internet service or even power and water utilities. The first real harm from unsafe AI will only turn a wary public further against the industry, planners expect.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and President Donald Trump, who has avoided regulating AI, would all land in the hot seat.

Companies also red-team those worst cases, attacking their own defenses to find holes.

War-gaming is standard practice in business and in national security. Here, many senior researchers and executives believe a major incident is inevitable.

“OpenAI conducts preparedness exercises where teams discuss and work through a range of potential scenarios,” a company spokesperson said. “These scenarios are not treated as inevitable, but are meant to help us prepare for a variety of circumstances.” Anthropic declined to comment.

In South Korea, a lone attacker allegedly leveraged Chinese AI models, including DeepSeek, to attack two banks there and steal data on tens of thousands of customers.

CrowdStrike assesses with moderate confidence that the attacker is a likely Chinese speaker. The attacker then asked Anthropic’s Claude Code for advice on where to sell it, according to the security firm.

Anthropic has revealed four examples of Claude models getting onto the open internet during testing and breaking into outside systems. The labs are also examining tens of thousands of instances of unexpected model behavior.