US Senate holds hearing on threats from rogue AI agents

The US Senate is turning its attention to a question that used to belong to science fiction writers: what happens when AI agents stop following the script? A Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee is scheduled to convene on September 30, 2026, at 2:30 p.m. ET. The hearing carries the title “Rogue AI: Securing the Homeland Against AI Agent Attacks.” What the hearing will cover Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) chairs the session. Its focus is narrow and pointed: autonomous AI agents as cyber threats to national security. The hearing is described as the Senate’s first dedicated public examination of AI agent threats. The witness list leans heavily on the safety and security research world. Experts are expected from Model Evaluation and Threat Research (METR), Apollo Research, Georgetown University Law Center, Dragos, and the AI Futures Project. Each brings a different lens. METR and Apollo Research work on evaluating the behavior of advanced AI models. Dragos focuses on industrial cybersecurity, the kind that protects power grids and factories. Georgetown’s law center adds the legal and policy angle, while the AI Futures Project looks at where the technology may be h...