Sam Altman testifies before Senate Judiciary Committee, calls for new AI regulatory agency

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman testifies before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law in the first major congressional hearing on AI. Altman tells senators that AI "might be the most transformative and potentially dangerous technology in human history" and calls for a new federal agency to license powerful AI systems. Senators Richard Blumenthal and Josh Hawley chair the hearing, with bipartisan consensus that AI requires regulation — though no legislation emerges. Altman's call for regulation is noted by critics as a strategic move to shape a framework that benefits well-resourced incumbents like OpenAI over smaller competitors.