Big AI companies should be \u201cshut down\u201d by the U.S. government until they can prove that their products are safe, actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt said on Monday.<\/p>\n
In a toast at the third annual TIME100 AI Impact Dinner in San Francisco, the Inception and 500 Days of Summer star told guests that today\u2019s AI makers have lost control of their creations and must be regulated to prevent potential harm.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy are cars safe to drive? Why are houses safe to live in? It\u2019s because car companies and construction companies … they have to follow laws. And if they don\u2019t, then the law can come and shut those companies down,\u201d Gordon-Levitt said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo let\u2019s just be clear here: today\u2019s AI companies are operating in such a way that the law should be shutting them down.\u201d<\/p>\n
His remarks drew loud clapping, whoops, and cheers from many people in the audience, who gathered at San Francisco\u2019s Asian Art Museum on Monday night to celebrate the 2026 honorees.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, that\u2019s pretty obvious that\u2019s the time the law should step in,\u201d Gordon-Levitt said. But, he went on, U.S. politicians had been \u201ctimid\u201d and failed to act \u2014 perhaps, he alleged, because they were taking money from \u201csome of the guys in this room.\u201d (AI companies, allies, and executives spent at least $83 million on federal elections in 2025 and are set to spend even more this year, according to the New York Times<\/a>.)<\/p>\n He called for Americans not to vote in November’s midterms for any politician who stands for “anything less than strong regulation, now.”<\/p>\n \u201cMy grandmother once told me that no decision belongs only to the moment in which we make it,\u201d Boyer said. \u201cLong after we\u2019re gone, someone we will never meet may still be living with what we chose to do today.\u201d<\/p>\n She described her community\u2019s \u201cseven generations\u201d principle: draw inspiration and support from the seven generations before you, and act for the benefit of the seven generations after you.<\/p>\n Those teachings inspired her to start building robots to teach Anishinaabemowin, the native language of the Great Lakes region\u2019s Anishinaabe people that was almost wiped out by U.S. residential schools and is now estimated to have fewer than 1,000 fluent speakers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe decisions we make about artificial intelligence today will outlive every person in this room. That\u2019s crazy, right?\u201d Boyer said. \u201cSo let\u2019s build things the right way. Let\u2019s build so that seven generations from now, our descendants can look back at this moment and thank us, rather than have to recover from us.\u201d<\/p>\n