‘The Law Should Be Shutting Them Down’: Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Others Speak at TIME100 AI Impact Dinner

Big AI companies should be “shut down” by the U.S. government until they can prove that their products are safe, actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt said on Monday.

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’s AI makers have lost control of their creations and must be regulated to prevent potential harm.

“Why are cars safe to drive? Why are houses safe to live in? It’s because car companies and construction companies ... they have to follow laws.

And if they don’t, then the law can come and shut those companies down,” Gordon-Levitt said.

“So let’s just be clear here: today’s AI companies are operating in such a way that the law should be shutting them down.” Gordon-Levitt was one of 100 leaders, innovators, storytellers, and activists named in the 2026 TIME100 AI list , which highlights the year’s most influential people in AI.

His remarks drew loud clapping, whoops, and cheers from many people in the audience, who gathered at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum on Monday night to celebrate the 2026 honorees.

But Gordon-Levitt’s message was not one of genial praise.

He said AI companies’ leaders and employees had publicly admitted their products were dangerous and could not be controlled — a reference, perhaps, to July’s cyberattack by a “swarm” of rogue OpenAI agents as well as multiple recent statements from current and former Anthropic employees warning that AI could end all human life .

“To me, that’s pretty obvious that’s the time the law should step in,” Gordon-Levitt said.

But, he went on, U.S. politicians had been “timid” and failed to act — perhaps, he alleged, because they were taking money from “some of the guys in this room.” (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 . ) He called for Americans not to vote in November's midterms for any politician who stands for "anything less than strong regulation, now." Other toasts highlighted the positive potential of AI, as well as its dangers.

The first was by Danielle Boyer, a 25-year-old indigenous American inventor and activist who is using AI to help preserve her people’s endangered language .

“My grandmother once told me that no decision belongs only to the moment in which we make it,” Boyer said.

“Long after we’re gone, someone we will never meet may still be living with what we chose to do today.” She described her community’s “seven generations” principle: draw inspiration and support from the seven generations before you, and act for the benefit of the seven generations after you.