Washington bets on old liability laws to police AI as experts split on what comes next

What happened

Washington bets on old liability laws to police AI as experts split on what comes next, according to Crypto Briefing. Relying on existing liability laws for AI regulation may lead to inconsistent enforcement and increased legal challenges across jurisdictions. 12, 2026 Worries about artificial intelligence causing catastrophic harm are no longer confined to science fiction and late-night podcasts.

Calls for new safeguards are multiplying, Bloomberg reports, but the people who would design those rules cannot agree on what they should look like. The administration’s playbook: use what already exists On October 10, 2026, President Donald Trump’s preferred approach came into focus.

Rather than create a new federal regulatory regime built specifically for AI, the administration favors enforcing existing liability laws to manage the technology’s risks. The stance has backing from prominent names.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent provides support for it, as does David Sacks, the former White House AI czar. That position builds on a White House meeting held September 29-30, 2026. There, Trump endorsed a non-binding accord among major AI companies, including Anthropic , OpenAI , Nvidia , Meta and Google .

Key facts

• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent — support: it, as does David Sacks, the former White House AI czar