Senior congressional staffers back AI industry regulation, survey shows

The people who actually write the bills on Capitol Hill have a view on artificial intelligence. Most of them want Congress to regulate it. Nearly three-quarters of senior Hill staffers support congressional regulation of the AI industry, according to a survey reported by Punchbowl News. A consistent pattern across surveys A November 2024 CNCT Capitol Pulse survey found that 86% of congressional aides believed the federal government should lead on AI regulation. Support crossed party lines, though not evenly. Among Republican aides, 77% favored federal regulation. Among Democratic aides, the figure reached 96%. In that same survey, 23% of GOP staff and 4% of Democratic staff said they preferred letting private industry regulate itself. The two surveys measure somewhat different groups. The CNCT poll covered congressional aides broadly, while the Punchbowl figure focuses on senior staffers. So comparing the 86% figure to nearly three-quarters is closer to apples and pears than apples and apples. Who regulates matters as much as whether A February 2026 survey found that 57% of aides supported a hybrid approach that splits regulatory authority between Washington and the states. That qu...