10 News Digital Team
John Carlin, Anchor, Roanoke
Published: 
10 News Digital Team
John Carlin, Anchor, Roanoke
Fears about AI’s dangers have become a hot-button topic over the past week, not just for Americans but for politicians as well.
Several leaders in the AI industry recently came forward saying that we need to slow down the progress of the technology, with one former Anthropic employee stating that the technology could pose a threat to humankind.
Since then, politicians have been lining up on either side of the issue, due in part to President Donald Trump’s position, as he believes it is important to press forward with development to keep the lead in the AI race against China.
10 News spoke to Professor Chapman Rackaway with Radford University to see what is driving the politician’s decisions.
“A lot of people are worried about what would happen if AI starts to corrupt autonomous drones. That could be really, really dangerous. But again, that’s a cross-partisan coalition there, where you’ve got Democrats and Republicans, the kind of which we don’t often see. But I think that’s an example of how neither of the parties have necessarily coalesced around one particular viewpoint yet. The president is trying to move the Republicans that way, and he’s got the punditocracy and people within the GOP apparatus there, but every one of these members of Congress is hearing from their constituencies about AI, and they’ve got to take those seriously.”
Rackaway also stated it is hard for politicians to decide where they stand because their constituents may still be figuring out their own opinions. He did say, however, that research currently shows that people like the idea of a killswitch that could “turn AI off” if it gets out of control.
You can see more about the public’s opinions on AI here.
Copyright 2026 by WSLS 10 – All rights reserved.
John Carlin co-anchors the 5, 5:30, and 6 p.m. newscasts on WSLS 10.
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