Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department will enforce existing criminal laws when artificial intelligence is misused but will not act as an AI regulator as lawmakers and technology executives debate new safeguards.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday that the Justice Department will investigate crimes involving artificial intelligence but does not intend to establish rules governing development of the technology, drawing a distinction between criminal enforcement and regulation as Washington confronts competing proposals for AI safeguards.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Blanche described AI as “extraordinarily beneficial” while saying existing criminal statutes give federal prosecutors authority to investigate unlawful conduct involving the technology.
“As far as AI is concerned, there’s a lot of criminal laws. And so if anybody associated with AI violates criminal law, we’ll investigate that. We already have,” Blanche said. “I do not think it’s the job of the Department of Justice to regulate. We’re prosecutors, not regulators. So, we’re not going to try to regulate AI.”
Reuters independently reported that Blanche said the department would investigate AI-related violations while rejecting a regulatory role for the DOJ.
His comments come amid an intensifying debate among technology executives, lawmakers and the Trump administration over whether rapidly advancing AI systems require additional government oversight and, if so, what form those protections should take.
Much of the latest discussion was prompted by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who called for companies developing the most capable AI models to slow the rate at which they increase those systems’ capabilities.
Amodei wrote in a Sept. 12 essay that his concern had grown as AI increasingly assists researchers in developing newer generations of AI. The process, known as recursive self-improvement, could accelerate technological progress faster than researchers can understand or manage its risks, he argued.
“Left unchecked, it could outrun our ability to understand and control these systems, and so must be pursued very carefully, if at all,” Amodei wrote.
Amodei said AI development had accelerated substantially since approximately the summer and argued that slowing capability advances could provide additional time for researchers to develop safety measures. His essay described risks that include loss of control over advanced systems, malicious use in cyberattacks and biological threats, and economic disruption.
His proposal outlined a three-stage approach to slowing the development of frontier systems, including coordination among companies and eventually governments. Amodei also discussed international coordination involving China, arguing that safeguards would be difficult to sustain if one country slowed development while another continued advancing without similar restrictions.
The proposal received support from other prominent technology executives.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman pledged that his company would match Anthropic’s commitment to providing independent evaluators access comparable to what employees receive when examining advanced systems. Elon Musk, who leads xAI, also endorsed Amodei’s concerns, writing, “Dario is right.”
Reuters reported that Altman and Musk were among the executives who backed Amodei’s call for slowing AI development amid the growing safety debate.
President Donald Trump has taken a different position, arguing that existing government powers are sufficient and warning that additional restraints could undermine the United States in its technological competition with China.
Trump characterized calls for additional AI guardrails as part of what he called a “sick conspiracy” against the technology.
“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Trump wrote in a Sept. 14 Truth Social post. “WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!”
Trump also said his administration had already used existing government authorities to stop AI companies from “doing bad, or potentially bad” things.
His position reflects the administration’s broader emphasis on maintaining U.S. technological development while using existing legal authority when companies or individuals violate the law. Reuters reported Monday that Trump said current U.S. mechanisms provide tools to regulate and prosecute AI companies and argued that doubts about continued development could benefit China.
Blanche’s comments the following day clarified what that approach means specifically for the Justice Department: prosecutors would pursue conduct violating federal criminal law but would not attempt to establish a broader regulatory system for AI.
Congress, however, is considering whether additional rules are necessary.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has been involved in bipartisan negotiations over legislation addressing risks from advanced AI systems. The proposal under discussion could require developers to demonstrate that they are taking reasonable precautions against serious harms and could give government officials authority to test certain systems.
Thune said Monday that any congressional response should avoid unnecessarily restricting innovation.
“It needs to strike a balance, light touch,” he said. “You don’t want to stifle innovation, but I think you also want to make sure that the more advanced threats can be mitigated and there’s a capability and place to do that.”
Thune said he believes lawmakers can target the most serious potential risks without sacrificing the country’s position in AI development.
“There is a way in which Congress can put guardrails around those types of more consequential threats without in any way harming our ability to stay ahead in the AI race,” he said, according to Reuters.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has similarly emphasized maintaining U.S. technological competitiveness while leaving open the possibility of targeted safeguards.
Johnson said Monday that he expected Trump to bring executives from major AI companies to the White House for discussions about safety and government involvement. On Tuesday, Johnson said the meeting was expected within approximately a week.
“There will be a deliberate discussion about the responsibility of the companies to maintain safety, and what role, if any, the government has to play in that,” Johnson said.
Johnson has rejected a moratorium on AI development, saying such an approach could allow China to gain an advantage.
“Whoever achieves automated general intelligence first probably has an edge over everybody else around the world,” Johnson said.
On Tuesday, Johnson said companies should be able to slow their own development voluntarily but that the United States should not impose a broad halt.
“They can self-regulate. They don’t need the government to tell them to slow it down. If they want to slow it down, they should,” Johnson said. “We cannot have a moratorium on the development of AI, Ok? Because then we will lose our edge to China, and that has serious national security implications for every American family.”
Johnson also said possible safeguards could include independent auditing and increased transparency from companies developing advanced systems.
The competing proposals leave several distinct approaches under consideration.
Blanche is defining the Justice Department’s role primarily through enforcement of existing criminal statutes. Trump has argued that current government authority is sufficient and has opposed broader efforts that could substantially slow development. Congressional negotiators are discussing targeted requirements for the most advanced systems, while some leading AI executives are calling for companies themselves to reduce the pace of capability improvements.
The disagreement is not necessarily over whether harmful conduct involving AI should face consequences. Blanche made clear that criminal violations would remain subject to federal investigation.
Instead, the developing dispute concerns how much action should occur before an AI system or its operator violates existing law — and whether government agencies should impose requirements intended to prevent advanced systems from creating serious risks in the first place.
That question is also becoming part of the U.S.-China relationship. Trump is scheduled to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Washington later this month, and Johnson said he expects artificial intelligence to be part of their discussions. Reuters reported that U.S. officials have also been preparing separate talks with Chinese counterparts concerning AI risks.
For the Justice Department, Blanche said the boundary is clear: AI does not receive an exemption from criminal law, but DOJ prosecutors will not become the federal government’s AI regulators.
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