WASHINGTON — Rep. Chip Roy is preparing to leave Congress at the end of 2026, but the Texas Republican is using his remaining time in office to press colleagues to take the risks of artificial intelligence more seriously. Roy, a staunch conservative who generally favors limited government and free markets, said the rapid expansion of AI presents challenges unlike ordinary technological change. He questioned whether companies and policymakers understand how the technology could affect employment, individual freedom and human decision-making. “This is an earth-shattering potential human replacement on multiple levels,” Roy said in an interview. He added that the central question is whether AI will remain a tool controlled by people or instead begin determining how people live and work. Roy said he is not calling for an end to AI research or deployment. Entrepreneurs and private companies, he argued, are more likely than government agencies to develop effective solutions. But he said lawmakers should still hold hearings, demand answers from technology companies and consider safety requirements and emergency safeguards. The lawmaker’s concerns come as the federal debate over AI increasingly centers on competition with China. Republican leaders and administration officials have emphasized the need for the United States to move quickly so it does not fall behind Beijing. Roy said that argument does not resolve questions about the technology’s consequences for communities, workers, water supplies or electricity demand as companies build data centers. “‘But China’ is not a policy prescription,” Roy said. “It’s a fear mechanism.” Roy also compared the potential dangers of uncontrolled AI development to the risks associated with nuclear proliferation. He said warnings that AI could threaten civilization should prompt lawmakers to examine the technology’s possible effects, even though he does not believe the country can simply reverse course. “I am of the mindset that the genie cannot go back in the bottle,” he said. Among Roy’s concerns is the future of work. He said AI developers have not adequately explained what the technology could mean for people’s ability to earn a living through their own labor, or how society would preserve human dignity if critical decisions were increasingly automated. Roy framed some of those concerns through his Christian faith, saying he believes people have a responsibility to maintain human control over the world rather than surrender leadership to systems he described as lacking a soul or an understanding of humanity. He predicted AI would become a larger subject of debate in Christian and other faith communities. The congressman said existing laws governing human conduct should continue to apply as AI systems become more capable. He rejected proposals to “shut it all down” as impractical, while arguing that lawmakers should establish guardrails and ensure people have alternatives if heavily digitized systems fail. Roy’s position reflects an emerging tension within conservative politics: a strong preference for private-sector innovation alongside growing unease about concentrated corporate power, job displacement and technologies that may outpace democratic oversight. His departure at year’s end will remove one Republican voice from those debates just as Congress faces pressure to determine how much responsibility should remain with companies and how much should be subject to public rules.