Rep. Stephen F. Lynch urges Treasury Secretary Bessent to investigate AI risks

During a House Financial Services Committee hearing on July 14, 2026, Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-MA) pressed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to use his department’s resources to investigate the existential risks posed by artificial intelligence. Lynch’s message was blunt: the administration’s current approach to AI governance is heading toward the same regulatory dumpster fire that plagued the crypto industry. Lynch’s crypto comparison lands with a thud Lynch didn’t mince words when drawing parallels between AI’s current trajectory and the crypto industry’s well-documented regulatory gaps. He cited between $200 million and $250 million in industry lobbying expenditures in the crypto space, arguing that letting companies write their own rules produced predictably bad outcomes for everyday consumers. Lynch accused the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan of systematically dismantling consumer protections and undermining state-level oversight by rescinding prior directives that had been in place. Bessent’s counterargument: we can’t afford to slow down Bessent framed the AI question primarily through the lens of geopolitical competition, particularly with China. According to Bessent, t...