1. United States
2. Mo.
3. Letter

I am writing as your constituent to urge you to take immediate legislative action on artificial intelligence. The decisions being made right now about how AI is built, deployed, and governed will shape the future of every American — and every person on this planet. That future should not be determined by eight tech CEOs. It should be determined by elected representatives accountable to the public. Tristan Harris and the Center for Humane Technology recently published “The AI Roadmap,” outlining seven principles for how AI should be built and governed. I ask that you take them seriously: 1. AI must be built safely and transparently — with independent oversight and rigorous testing, the same standards we demand of aviation and medicine. 2. AI companies owe a duty of care to the public — and must face real consequences when their products cause foreseeable harm. 3. AI design must center human well-being — not emotional dependency, not addiction, not the exploitation of children. 4. AI should not automate away meaningful work and human dignity — people deserve a say in technology that threatens their livelihoods. 5. AI innovation must not come at the expense of our rights and freedoms — including privacy, data ownership, and protection from surveillance. 6. AI must have internationally agreed-upon limits — runaway development serves no nation’s long-term interest. 7. AI power must be balanced in society — not concentrated in the hands of a few corporations or governments. On his recent appearance on Kara Swisher’s podcast “On with Kara Swisher” (March 26, 2026), Harris made two points I want to highlight specifically: First, AI must be classified as a PRODUCT, not a person. AI companies are already attempting legal maneuvers to claim their chatbots deserve protected speech rights — or even legal personhood. This is absurd and dangerous. The Ford Pinto was pulled from the market after 27 deaths. Boeing’s 737 MAX was grounded after 346 deaths. We have product liability frameworks that work. Apply them to AI. If an AI product causes foreseeable harm, the company that built it should be held accountable — period. Second, we need mandatory product liability and duties of care. Right now, AI companies release products they don’t fully understand, with risks they haven’t fully tested, into the hands of millions of users — including children — and face virtually no legal consequences. That must end. Congress must require that AI companies identify and mitigate foreseeable harms before deployment, not after the damage is done. As Harris and the CHT also note, in 2025 alone, 73 AI laws were passed across 27 states. Americans want guardrails. The states are acting because Congress hasn’t. But the Trump administration’s recent executive order threatening to preempt all state AI laws means the window for federal action is now — or the entire regulatory landscape may be wiped out. This is not a partisan issue. This is about whether democratic governance still means something in the age of AI. I urge you to: • Hold hearings with independent AI safety experts — not just industry CEOs. • Support legislation establishing AI product liability. • Oppose any preemption of state consumer protection laws on AI. • Require transparency and independent safety testing before AI products reach the public. • Protect children with enforceable guardrails on AI chatbot design. We have one window to get this right. Please act.