
Can anyone actually stop AI right now? This week: a viral resignation warning AI "could kill us all by the end of the decade," a rogue AI agent cyberattack, Dario Amodei calling on the industry to slow down, and the President of the United States calling the whole thing a "hoax."I sat down with Bruce Mehlman — Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Technology Policy under George W. Bush, and author of the Age of Disruption newsletter — and returning guest Katie Harbath, former Public Policy Director at Facebook and author of the upcoming book Disrupting Politics: A Front Row Seat to the Collision of Technology and Democracy (out October 6), to ask whether there's any real path to government action here, or whether this is just the next round of an arms race neither party can win.We cover the 10-day timeline that got us here, whether the data-center backlash is really a stand-in for deeper AI anxiety, how AI has scrambled traditional party lines, what companies can do on their own versus what only government or a global agreement can accomplish, whether a "kill switch" is even possible, the Reagan "trust but verify" problem applied to AI, and Katie's own front-row memories of the technology-democracy collision, including January 6th.CHAPTERS00:00 Cold open: "It escalated quickly"00:02 Guest introductions00:03 The 10-day timeline00:05 What actually alarmed them00:06 Bruce's 7 factors behind the convergence00:11 The state preemption fight — Hawley, Blackburn00:13 Did Trump just step into a "bear trap"?00:14 How AI scrambled party alliances00:26 Data centers: proxy, or just affordability?00:30 Talking to my kids about AI risk00:34 What companies can do vs. what only government can do00:41 Is a "kill switch" possible?00:47 China, Xi's visit, and the nuclear non-proliferation parallel00:51 Liability, Section 230, and who you sue when an AI hacks you00:57 Reagan's "trust but verify," applied to AI00:58 Katie's book: the January 6th storyBruce Mehlman's Age of Disruption: https://brucemehlman.substack.com/Katie Harbath's Anchor Change: https://anchorchange.substack.com/Worth Knowing on Substack: https://worthknowing.substack.com/#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #AIRegulation #AISafety #Congress #TechPolicy #DarioAmodei #Anthropic #OpenAI #Midterms2026
More episodes from "Beyond Politics"



Don't miss an episode of “Beyond Politics” and subscribe to it in the GetPodcast app.








