When I served as the elected county commissioner president, a familiar phrase echoed through local government whenever new regulations were proposed: “Educate, don’t legislate.”
asserted
regulations → serve → government
It is a philosophy rooted in a healthy distrust of top-down mandates.
asserted
It → root → mandates
It builds on the belief that informed, responsible actors manage risk better than a rigid bureaucracy.
asserted
actors → build → bureaucracy
Today, that exact governance mindset has taken center stage in Washington.
asserted
mindset → take → Washington
President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) have signaled a clear preference for private sector responsibility.
asserted
Trump → signal → responsibility
The United States leads China in the race for advanced software.
asserted
States → lead → software
Heavy federal rules risk crippling American innovation.
asserted
rules → risk → innovation
Johnson explicitly noted that Congress will not lead the charge on regulating AI safety, warning that strict restrictions could cause us to cede technological dominance to our adversaries.
uncertain
us → note → adversaries
But as a physician, an Orphans’ Court judge, and a former local official, I know exactly where the limits of self-regulation lie.
asserted
limits → know → regulation
My entire career has been defined by protecting public health, safeguarding the vulnerable, and upholding the rule of law.
asserted
career → define → law
In medicine, we do not allow pharmaceutical companies to distribute experimental drugs based on a promise to monitor themselves.
asserted
companies → allow → themselves
In the judiciary, we do not let parties define their own legal boundaries.
asserted
parties → let → boundaries
When I stepped onto the stage of national debate as a U.S. Senate nominee, I consistently advocated principles that put the fundamental safety of American citizens first.
asserted
that → step → citizens
It is time to take the gloves off and say what must be said: the current administration’s stance on artificial intelligence is flatly wrong and dangerously misguided.
asserted
stance → take → intelligence
The federal government has a sacred, constitutional duty to protect its citizens.
asserted
government → have → citizens
When a technology advances so rapidly that its own creators warn it could escape human control, relying entirely on a voluntary corporate handshake is a reckless gamble.
uncertain
relying → advance → handshake
Proponents of deregulation argue that any domestic speed bump will allow Beijing to seize the lead.
asserted
Beijing → argue → lead
But this argument fundamentally misunderstands national security.
asserted
argument → misunderstand → security
True national security requires resilience and control.
asserted
security → require → resilience
If an advanced AI system triggers an autonomous cyberattack on our power grid or leaks dangerous biological data, it does not matter if the software was stamped “Made in America.”
asserted
software → trigger → America
We will have defeated ourselves before our adversaries even mount an offensive.
asserted
adversaries → defeat → offensive
Safety and national security must go hand in hand.
asserted
Safety → go → hand
We are caught in a false dichotomy.
asserted
We → catch → dichotomy
We are told we must choose between an inefficient federal bottleneck that hands victory to China or a lawless corporate free-for-all that gambles with our societal stability.
asserted
that → tell → stability
We must reject both extremes.
asserted
We → reject → extremes
Current congressional assessments highlight a stark lack of broad federal legislation establishing regulatory oversight, leaving a vacuum where clear guidelines should be.
asserted
guidelines → highlight → vacuum
The public does not expect the federal government to be an expert in advanced code.
asserted
government → expect → code
But the government must still lead.
asserted
government → lead → ?
Leading does not mean micromanaging line items of programming.
asserted
Leading → mean → programming
It means fostering innovation while setting and enforcing hard safety benchmarks.
asserted
It → mean → benchmarks
We can achieve this safety through a structured, three-step co-regulatory process:
First, define the outcomes.
asserted
We → achieve → outcomes
Congress must establish clear, legally binding boundaries for what a system can safely do.
asserted
system → establish → what
The government does not need to dictate how to build the software.
asserted
government → need → software
It must dictate the results.
asserted
It → dictate → results
For example, a legal mandate should explicitly state that a system cannot be capable of autonomously synthesizing chemical weapons or orchestrating catastrophic cyberattacks against our infrastructure.
asserted
system → state → infrastructure
We are already seeing initial bipartisan steps toward this with the Stop Rogue AI Act, which attempts to track unauthorized autonomous agents operating within critical infrastructure.
asserted
which → see → infrastructure
The federal government should empower independent, technical entities to run safety checks.
asserted
government → empower → checks
While Trump’s recent executive order established a completely voluntary pre-release engagement framework for developers, we must transform cooperation into verification.
asserted
we → establish → verification
Frontier tech labs should be legally required to submit their most advanced models to independent bodies.
asserted
labs → require → bodies
Federal scientists would run tests against the defined outcome thresholds before any public deployment occurs.
asserted
deployment → run → thresholds
…and 11 more, not listed.
The Aporia
