The future of AI regulation is courting the strangest, most anxious bedfellows
AI regulation has become one of the defining political battles of the 2026 midterms, drawing together an unusual cast of senators, billionaire-funded super PACs, AI safety advocates, and anxious voters. The Washington AI Network's second annual AI Honors gala, held June 3, 2026, put that tension on display by celebrating bipartisan lawmakers and industry figures even as polling showed 70 percent of Americans worried about AI's role in elections. The central fight is whether the federal government sets one national rulebook for AI or whether individual states keep writing their own laws.
Key Takeaways
- (L-R) Sen. Mike Rounds, Pamela Brown, Chris Malachowsky, Kevin O'Leary, Gabriele Caccia, Tammy Haddad, Michele L.
Jawando, Sen. Mark Warner, Michael Kelly and Major General Patrick Ellis attend the Second Annual AI Honors.
- We're back after a two-week hiatus, during most of which I was gallivanting in the Netherlands for a family wedding, and a trip to the Heineken Experience, which is, truly, an ~experience~ .
Before I left, I asked everyone in Washington to please chill out while I was gone.
- Read the full story at The Verge.
- (If you're not a subscriber, you can get on board here .)
- This clearly did not happen, and I have returned to a political landscape that can be best described as that meme from Community where the room is on fire .
(L-R) Sen. Mike Rounds, Pamela Brown, Chris Malachowsky, Kevin O'Leary, Gabriele Caccia, Tammy Haddad, Michele L. Jawando, Sen. Mark Warner, Michael Kelly and Major General Patrick Ellis attend the Second Annual AI Honors. | Getty Images for Washington AI N Hello and welcome to Regulator , a newsletter for Verge subscribers about tech politics, tech influence, and tech shenanigans in Washington, DC.
(If you're not a subscriber, you can get on board here .) We're back after a two-week hiatus, during most of which I was gallivanting in the Netherlands for a family wedding, and a trip to the Heineken Experience, which is, truly, an ~experience~ . Before I left, I asked everyone in Washington to please chill out while I was gone.
For more details please read the original article at The Verge AI.
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