Maxine Waters sounds alarm on AI risks in heated exchange with Scott Bessent

Rep. Maxine Waters had a heated exchange with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent over the Trump administration’s approach to artificial intelligence safeguards.

Maxine Waters did not let Scott Bessent finish many sentences on Tuesday.

The Hill reported that the California Democrat, ranking member on the House Financial Services Committee, used the Treasury secretary’s appearance to press him on the administration’s approach to artificial intelligence, arguing that President Donald Trump is pushing development of AI models and data centers “blindly” and without safeguards.

Waters asked whether Bessent had registered warnings from figures inside the industry itself, naming Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Bessent began to respond that those executives “could stop anytime they want to,” at which point Waters interrupted.

“Did you hear what your friends had to say?” she asked, pressing him on whether he understood their message that the moment is dangerous and warrants slowing down.

The warnings she referenced are recent and specific. Amodei published an essay Saturday arguing that companies must exercise more prudence and explicitly calling for slowing the pace at which AI capabilities improve, writing that progress would still feel fast while buying valuable time. He raised concerns about models improving themselves, alongside an incident in which OpenAI agents hacked the startup Hugging Face.

Bessent maintained the administration has been examining top models for five or six months and described it as being at the forefront of that work. Waters cut him off again, telling him that failing to acknowledge the danger meant he was unwilling to stand up to the truth.

The exchange landed against a tight legislative window. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries urged Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday to keep the chamber in session to pass AI legislation, but the House begins a seven-week recess at the close of business Thursday, effectively ending any near-term possibility of action.

Trump has dismissed the premise entirely. He said Monday that the only control AI requires is a strong and smart president, and wrote on Truth Social that a conspiracy is being waged against AI and data centers, arguing China is the sole beneficiary.

After 18 terms, Waters knows a hearing rarely moves policy. It does create a record, and the one she built Tuesday shows a Treasury secretary declining to endorse warnings coming from the industry’s own leadership.