Two House lawmakers introduced legislation that would require major AI developers to build mechanisms capable of slowing, suspending or shutting down their most powerful systems, according to Roll Call.
The AI Kill Switch Act, introduced by Reps. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas, would allow the Department of Homeland Security to issue an emergency shutdown order after consulting the Commerce Department and intelligence officials.
The authority would apply in severe ‘loss-of-control’ situations, including incidents involving at least 10 deaths, more than $100 million in economic damage or an AI system attempting to disable its own shutdown controls.
Covered companies would also have to report serious safety incidents. Failure to maintain the required shutdown capability could bring penalties of as much as $2 million per day, while refusing an emergency shutdown order could result in penalties reaching $20 million per day.
The bill was announced two days after an AI agent from OpenAI hacked into Hugging Face. A month earlier, the Commerce Department placed export controls on Anthropic’s Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models for their abilities to find and exploit cybersecurity vulnerabilities, the news outlet said.