Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday that he prefers to tread carefully when it comes to using the Justice Department for anything other than prosecution, and that he intends to investigate those who actually commit crimes related to artificial intelligence and not use the department to regulate AI companies.

The attorney general blasted the Biden administration, accusing it of taking a heavy-handed approach to AI companies and promised that he would only take action if there were clear violations of the law.

“I’m not going to do regulation by prosecution and investigate or prosecute AI companies when there’s not a statute that they’re violating,” Blanche told Bloomberg News. “If we’re going to charge somebody with violating the laws and take away their liberty and put them in prison, it should be because they violated the law.

“The last administration spent countless prosecutors’ hours and money and effort and resources regulating whatever they chose to regulate,” he continued. “I think that there are some Justice Departments that like to do that and that’s not what we’re doing.”

Blanche told reporters during the White House press briefing Tuesday that he would prosecute companies that clearly did break the law, highlighting that plenty of criminal laws related to artificial intelligence already exist.

"As far as AI is concerned, there's a lot ​of criminal laws," ​Blanche said. "So if anybody associated with AI violates criminal law, we'll investigate ​that."

President Donald Trump has blasted calls for more federal oversight of artificial intelligence, claiming Monday night that current concerns about artificial intelligence are a "hoax." 

"The claim that 'AI is going to take over the World' is a Hoax, just like Global 'Warming,' where everyone was going to be dead by now," Trump posted on Truth Social. "These are all Radical Left Dumocrats, who never give up, but seldom win. Hopefully, the Voters have seen the light!"

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.