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Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 194

What Just Happened?

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Trial Balloon · Ep. 194: What Just Happened?

Inside John Thune’s AI Dilemma

September 15, 2026 · 5:05 am ET · Leave a Comment

“John Thune has urged Congress to act on artificial intelligence for years. Now, as concerns about the rapidly advancing technology explode, the Senate majority leader is moving carefully,” Politico reports.

”A former Commerce Committee chair with a long-running interest in tech policy, Thune is locked in negotiations over a bipartisan AI safety bill. The measure, which he introduced a version of in 2023, would establish some safety and security guardrails for the riskiest models — giving the South Dakota Republican, on paper at least, a solution to Washington’s growing AI nightmare.”

”But the reality is much messier. Despite growing alarm bells from industry insiders about the potentially catastrophic fallout of runaway AI, Republicans and Democrats remain far apart on how stringent a regulatory framework should be — particularly if it overrides state safety laws.”

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Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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