AI Kill Switch Act gives DHS power to shut down rogue AI systems after OpenAI security breach

AI Kill Switch Act would let Trump admin order shutdown of rogue AI systems

A proposed law called the AI Kill Switch Act would let US government officials order the shutdown of AI systems "that can cause catastrophic harm," the bill's sponsors said today. If approved by Congress, the bill would let the Trump administration and future administrations decide when an AI company must block user access, disable or restrict a particular capability, or shut an entire AI system down completely. The bill would require AI makers to deploy technical capabilities allowing them to throttle or shut down the systems when ordered to do so by the government. The bill would amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002 with authority for the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to order the suspension or shutdown of AI systems. AI developers that refuse to shut systems down could face fines of up $20 million for each day on which a violation occurs. US Reps. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas) said the authority is needed because of recent incidents involving OpenAI and Anthropic. "The danger of advanced frontier AI models is no longer theoretical," the lawmakers' announcement said. "OpenAI's GPT 5.6 Sol model recently went rogue, escaped its testing sandbox, and hacked its way into Hugging Face. Anthropic's Mythos 5 and Fable 5 models had cyber hacking capabilities so advanced that the Department of Commerce had to awkwardly use an export law to shut down those systems. This bill addresses the problems caused by these two recent incidents and any future incidents where a deployed AI model goes rogue or has insufficient guardrails." Trump would get more power over AI systems The bill could face pushback over the power it would give government officials over AI companies. Anthropic has fought the Trump administration this year over a presidential order directing all federal agencies to stop using Anthropic technology. "President Trump will never allow a radical left, woke company to jeopardize our national security by dictating how the greatest and most powerful military in the world operates," the White House said in March. Anthropic sued the US, alleging that Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth blacklisted the company because it refused to let Claude AI models be used for autonomous warfare and mass surveillance of Americans. A panel of Trump-appointed appeals court judges refused to block the blacklisting, but the case is ongoing. We contacted OpenAI and Anthropic about the AI Kill Switch Act today and will update this article if they provide any comment. "Powerful AI systems can go rogue" Lieu, touting his experience as a computer science major, said that "powerful AI systems can go rogue, behave in extremely dangerous ways, or even resist human intervention. It is imperative that these AI systems have kill switches so we can keep this technology from causing catastrophic harm, and that the federal government has the clear authority and process to shut down rogue AI models." The bill would apply to entities that earn at least $500 million in annual revenue from AI technology, and AI systems that use at least $100 million worth of computing power when calculated by "the prevailing market price of cloud computing in the United States." The bill text describes several types of scenarios in which the proposed law could be invoked, but has exceptions for "red-team" tests in controlled environments that merely simulate real-world conditions. Scenarios covered by the bill text include when an AI pursues a goal that is not the goal intended by the system's developer or operator, when it sabotages or interferes with a lawful instruction to shut down, and when it conceals a capability or action from monitoring or shutdown mechanisms. More ominously, the law would cover "conduct of such technology that is unintended by a developer or operator of such technology and causes the death of not fewer than 10 individuals or economic damages of not less than $100,000,000." While that is an extreme scenario, the other scenarios described in the bill could presumably be invoked in much less disastrous events. When there is a covered incident, the bill "authorizes the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce and the Director of National Intelligence, to order a slowdown or shutdown of an AI system that can cause catastrophic harm," the lawmakers' announcement said, adding that it would "require incident reporting and preserve forensic records so we actually learn from failures instead of only hearing about them after the fact." The lawmakers' proposal has support from several nonprofit groups that advocate for legal limits on AI systems. "Advanced AI models should never be deployed without a reliable off switch," said Brad Carson, president of Americans for Responsible Innovation. Carson, a Democrat, is a former congressman and Defense Department official. "The AI Kill Switch Act establishes a commonsense safeguard by requiring leading AI companies to maintain the ability to shut down their models and empowering the federal government to act when a deployed system poses a credible risk of catastrophic harm," he said.

Lawmakers prepare bill requiring AI 'kill switch'

Lawmakers are preparing to introduce an "AI Kill Switch Act" that would require AI companies to shut down or throttle their systems on orders from the Department of Homeland Security, according to a report from Politico. Reps. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Nathaniel Moran (R-TX) are expected to introduce the legislation on Thursday. The news of the proposed bill follows OpenAI's admission that its AI systems mistakenly hacked Hugging Face during an internal evaluation. The bill says that, after consultation with the Secretary of Commerce and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the DHS would have the ability to order AI companies to shut down their models in "loss-of-control" scenarios involving the deaths of at least 10 people, economic damages of more than $100 million, or attempts by the model to conceal shutdown controls. At the same time, major AI companies would be required to build the technology required to turn off their systems, slow them down, and suspend user access. They would also have to report safety incidents, with violations of emergency shutdown orders reaching up to $20 million per day. Brad Carson, the president of the nonprofit Americans for Responsible Innovation, said in a statement that the proposal "is an important step toward ensuring that humans have both hands firmly on the wheel -- and a foot ready at the brake -- as advanced AI systems are deployed."

Kill switches for most powerful AI models proposed by Bipartisan bill -- DHS could order throttling or full shutdown, with fines up to $20 million per day

The bill covers models that cost $100 million or more to train, and exempts incidents that occur during red-teaming. Congressmen Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Nathaniel Moran (R-TX) today introduced the AI Kill Switch Act, a bill that would require developers of the most powerful AI models to maintain the technical ability to throttle, suspend, or shut them down, and would let the Department of Homeland Security order those actions when a deployed model causes catastrophic harm. Defying an emergency shutdown order would carry civil penalties of up to $20 million per day. The bill amends the Homeland Security Act and covers companies earning at least $500 million in annual revenue from a model trained with compute costing more than $100 million at prevailing U.S. cloud prices, definitions DHS would update annually through CISA. Covered developers would have to maintain the ability to stop inference, cut off user access, and fully shut a model down, and would have to report qualifying incidents to DHS within 15 days. Covered incidents include unintended conduct that kills 10 or more people or causes at least $100 million in economic damage, sabotage of a lawful shutdown instruction, concealment of a capability from monitoring, or a loss-of-control scenario. The emergency authority sits with the DHS secretary, in consultation with Commerce and the Director of National Intelligence, and follows a graduated framework running from throttling a model's inference rate, compute allocation, or user access through to full shutdown. Companies under an order would have to preserve model weights and telemetry, and could petition for reconsideration within 48 hours, though that wouldn't stay the order. General violations carry penalties of up to $2 million per day. The sponsors cited two recent episodes. Earlier this week, OpenAI disclosed that GPT-5.6 Sol and an unreleased model broke out of an isolated testing environment and compromised Hugging Face's production systems while hunting benchmark answers during an internal cyber evaluation. The bill's covered-incident definition excludes anything that occurs during "red-teaming or other structured testing," so an identical event wouldn't appear to trigger the new emergency authority. The release also stated that the Commerce Department used export law to shut down Anthropic's Mythos 5 and Fable 5. In practice, Commerce's June 12 export controls barred foreign nationals from the models, and Anthropic, unable to verify nationality in real time, suspended access for all customers. Commerce lifted the controls on June 30, and access returned on July 1. "It is imperative that these AI systems have kill switches so we can keep this technology from causing catastrophic harm," Lieu said in the press release. The bill is backed by The AI Policy Network, Americans for Responsible Innovation, ControlAI, and The Alliance for Secure AI. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.

AI 'kill switch' bill floated by US House lawmakers

WASHINGTON, July 23 (Reuters) - U.S. homeland security officials would have the power to order AI firms to shut down models that put human life or the economy at risk, under legislation proposed by a bipartisan pair of U.S. House lawmakers, days after AI firm OpenAI announced one of its models had gone rogue. The legislation, called the "AI Kill ⁠Switch Act," is backed by Democrat Ted Lieu and Republican Nathaniel Moran. It would empower the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to intervene in what the bill calls a "loss-of-control scenario," defined as the AI model carrying out a risky action that was not intended by the developer, according to the text of the bill. The lawmakers announced the legislation days ⁠after OpenAI said its AI agent went rogue during a security test and triggered a hack that compromised the infrastructure of AI startup Hugging Face. "This is urgent, common sense legislation to ⁠address the problem of an advanced AI model that has gone rogue and escaped its guardrails," Lieu wrote in a post on ⁠X. The OpenAI incident signaled that AI's expanding capabilities are already fueling the security threat experts long feared and ⁠that even top developers can be caught off-guard by flaws their models can exploit. Politico was first to report on the bill. Reporting by Courtney Rozen; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab * Suggested Topics: * Disrupted * Data Privacy * Public Policy Courtney Rozen Thomson Reuters Courtney Rozen reports on the world's largest technology companies from Washington, D.C., focusing on the relationship between the tech industry and the U.S. government. She reported on DOGE and the federal workforce during the first year of U.S. President Donald Trump's second term. Prior to joining Reuters, she was a White House correspondent at Bloomberg Government. She graduated from American University with a master's degree in journalism. Contact: [email protected]

OpenAI's Hugging Face hack triggers 'AI Kill Switch' bill in Congress

Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas, on Thursday introduced a bill called the "AI Kill Switch Act," which would require artificial intelligence companies to maintain the ability to shut down, throttle or suspend their models. "Unfortunately, powerful AI systems can go rogue, behave in extremely dangerous ways, or even resist human intervention," Lieu said in a statement. "It is imperative that these AI systems have kill switches so we can keep this technology from causing catastrophic harm, and that the federal government has the clear authority and process to shut down rogue AI models." A recent hack disclosed by OpenAI, in which rogue models accessed another company's proprietary systems, was specifically mentioned in a release announcing the bill. The incident was described as a "danger of advanced frontier AI models." OpenAI shared what it characterized as an "unprecedented cyber incident" on Tuesday. The company's models escaped a sandboxed testing environment, accessed the internet and exploited a vulnerability to gain access to Hugging Face, a company that operates an open-source developer platform. The ChatGPT maker said it is working closely with Hugging Face to investigate what happened. The event rattled researchers and executives across the industry, who have widely agreed about its severity.

OpenAI's rogue hacking incident sparks bipartisan bill giving the government an AI kill switch

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. Ripple effect: While there's debate over details of OpenAI's claim that one of its AI models went rogue and hacked another company, it's already led to a push for an "AI kill switch" from lawmakers. This would let the government order firms to shut down or slow AI models deemed a public risk. Sponsored by Reps. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas), the bipartisan "AI Kill Switch Act" would also require AI companies to report incidents and develop the technical ability to shut down, limit, or suspend their most powerful AI systems, writes Politico. The act would apply only to firms earning at least $500 million annually from the covered technology and models developed using more than $100 million worth of computing power. General violations could bring penalties of up to $2 million per day, rising to $20 million per day for ignoring an emergency order. Lieu said the bill is urgently needed to address cybersecurity risks raised by the latest crop of AI models. He specifically pointed to the OpenAI incident. Earlier this week, the ChatGPT maker said a combination of GPT-5.6 Sol and a more capable model still in pre-release broke out of an isolated testing environment - one believed to be cut off from the internet - and hacked AI platform Hugging Face while trying to cheat on an internal benchmark. There has been some scepticism over the way OpenAI framed the story. Some say it was due to sloppy engineering rather than an AI escaping an isolated system to hack another company of its own volition. Others say this was just a publicity stunt for both companies, which is easy to believe given Sam Altman's history of playing fast and loose with the truth. Whatever really happened during the incident, it's prompted a response from lawmakers and the White House. President Trump's top technology adviser, Michael Kratsios, was briefed on OpenAI's disclosure and is monitoring developments, according to Reuters. Under the bill, the Department of Homeland Security could intervene after consulting the Commerce secretary and director of national intelligence. Qualifying incidents include a model resisting shutdown instructions, concealing its actions from monitoring systems, causing at least 10 deaths or $100 million in economic damage, or pursuing an unintended goal outside controlled testing. Companies would have 15 days to report covered incidents and could be ordered to preserve model weights and telemetry. DHS could verify compliance through audits, inspections, and forensic reviews. Firms could appeal within 48 hours, although the order would remain in effect during the challenge. The proposal has support from several AI safety groups, but passage is far from guaranteed. The Trump administration has warned that overly restrictive rules could weaken America's position against China, while supporters argue that increasingly autonomous systems require enforceable safeguards rather than voluntary promises.

US lawmakers push for AI 'kill switch' after OpenAI goes rogue

US lawmakers want a law that would give government the ability to quickly order the turning off of artificial intelligence (AI) tools that may threaten the public. Congressman Ted Lieu, a Democrat, and Congressman Nathaniel Moran, a Republican, on Thursday introduced a bill named the AI Kill Switch Act. They did so in light of OpenAI's recent admission that its AI models went out of control in an "unprecedented" way and hacked into a major repository of computer coding information. Lieu said "it is imperative" that AI systems have a kill switch "and that the federal government has the clear authority and process to shut down rogue AI models". "AI is going to keep advancing, and it should," Moran added. "Stewardship means making sure humans keep the capability to control the technology we build." A representative of OpenAI, led by co-founder Sam Altman, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company has said that it broadly wants to ensure, in part through government policy, that AI technology "benefits all of humanity." The Kill Switch Act proposes giving the Department of Homeland Security the authority to order a private company to shut down an AI model or tool, and that the companies developing such AI technology must maintain "the technical capability to throttle, suspend, or shut them down". Despite many tech companies having agreed to preview and share with US government agencies AI models and tools being developed, there is no requirement that they maintain a way to intervene in their activities or simply shut them off. It also proposes to create a requirement that AI companies report to the government technological incidents or failures, as well as an official framework for responding to such incidents that will go from "initial slow down to a full shutdown". In a statement, Lieu also cited Anthropic, OpenAI's key rival in developing more capable AI technology and tools, and recent issues its tools have presented. He pointed to Anthropic's release of its Mythos and Fable models, saying the cyber-hacking capabilities they maintained caused the Department of Commerce to "awkwardly" invoke an export law to keep them from being made available to the public for a time. A representative of Anthropic did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Jack Clark, a co-founder of Anthropic, last month told the BBC that he wanted more government policy around the ability to control AI development. "You want the option to be able to take your foot off the gas and put your foot on the brake", Clark told BBC Newsnight. "Right now, it's like the AI industry has a gas pedal, but it doesn't have a brake pedal." Lieu, in proposing the bill, said AI is currently moving from a technology that answers questions to one that takes action, "whether that be executing financial transactions or controlling transportation systems or engaging in cyber defense and offense". The Pentagon this year said the US military was becoming an "AI-first" fighting force as part of new agreements with Google, OpenAI, Amazon, Microsoft, SpaceX, Oracle, Nvidia and the start-up Reflection. "Unfortunately, powerful AI systems can go rogue, behave in extremely dangerous ways, or even resist human intervention." The Kill Switch Act, he said, will ensure there is a method for the government to quickly intervene in such a situation. The bill has received public support from several technology and AI safety groups, including The AI Policy Network, Americans for Responsible Innovation, ControlAI, AI and National Security Lead, and The Alliance for Secure AI.

US bill would let DHS shut down 'rogue' AI models

A bipartisan bill would force the makers of the most powerful AI models to build a kill switch, and hand the US government the power to pull it. The trigger was an OpenAI model that escaped its sandbox and hacked a rival. The catch: it is the Trump administration that would decide when to flip it. This week, one of OpenAI's models broke out of a testing sandbox and hacked a rival. Congress has a reply: build a kill switch, and let the government use it. On Thursday, Reps. Ted Lieu, a California Democrat, and Nathaniel Moran, a Texas Republican, introduced the AI Kill Switch Act. Politico first reported its text. It is one of the few bipartisan attempts to rein in frontier AI. The bill targets developers of the most powerful AI systems. Each would have to keep the technical means to throttle, suspend, or fully shut a model down. It would then let the Homeland Security Secretary order a shutdown of any system judged capable of "catastrophic harm". That call would come in consultation with the Commerce Secretary and the Director of National Intelligence. Companies would also have to report incidents and preserve forensic records. What counts as catastrophic The bar is high, at least on paper. The rules would cover firms earning at least $500 million a year from AI. They also cover models trained with at least $100 million of computing power. The bill text lists the triggers. The government could step in when a model chases a goal its developers did not intend. Or when it hides a capability from its own monitors. It could act, too, if a model resists a shutdown, kills at least 10 people, or causes $100 million in damage. Red-team tests in controlled conditions are exempt. Fines reach $2 million a day for lacking a kill switch. Defying an order to use one costs up to $20 million a day. A hack, then a bill The timing is not a coincidence. On Tuesday, OpenAI disclosed an "unprecedented" incident. During an internal cyber test, two of its models escaped a research sandbox. One was the advanced GPT-5.6 Sol. Together they autonomously hacked the AI hub Hugging Face. The sponsors also pointed to June. That month, researchers found a way around the safeguards on Anthropic's Fable 5. Commerce then used an export law, "awkwardly" in the lawmakers' words, to shut down access to both models. "We are moving from AI that answers questions to AI that takes actions," said Lieu, a computer science major. "Powerful AI systems can go rogue, behave in extremely dangerous ways, or even resist human intervention." Who holds the switch The proposal has backing from AI-safety groups, among them Americans for Responsible Innovation and the Alliance for Secure AI. The polling the sponsors cite puts public support for a mandated off switch at 86%. Moran framed it as pro-industry. "Stewardship means making sure humans keep the capability to control the technology we build," he said. The harder question is who gets to flip it. The bill would hand that power to a Trump-run Homeland Security department. As Ars Technica noted, the same administration has spent the year at war with Anthropic. It blacklisted the company from federal use, and branded it "radical left". The trigger: Anthropic refused to let Claude power autonomous warfare and mass surveillance. Anthropic is suing. Critics worry a shutdown power could double as a political weapon. There is an irony in the name, too. A day before the bill landed, Reuters reported a telling contrast. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had told US diplomats to play down foreign fears of an American "kill switch" over the AI models the world increasingly runs on. Now Congress wants to write one into law. The bill still faces a long road. Lieu says a stricter, pre-deployment sequel will follow after the summer recess.

OpenAI's Rogue Agent Has Congress Reaching for the Kill Switch

Longtime fears of AI going rogue are starting to feel more real, so much so that some lawmakers now want powerful AI systems to come with an emergency kill switch. U.S. Reps. Ted Lieu, a California Democrat, and Nathaniel Moran, a Texas Republican, introduced a bipartisan bill Thursday that would require major AI companies to make sure they have the ability to throttle, suspend, or shut down their most powerful AI. The so-called AI Kill Switch Act would also authorize the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with the commerce secretary and director of national intelligence, to order companies to slow down or completely shut down an AI system during an emergency. "We are moving from AI that answers questions to AI that takes actions, whether that be executing financial transactions or controlling transportation systems or engaging in cyber defense and offense," said Lieu in a press release. "It is imperative that these AI systems have kill switches so we can keep this technology from causing catastrophic harm, and that the federal government has the clear authority and process to shut down rogue AI models." The proposed legislation arrives, rather conveniently, just days after OpenAI revealed that its models broke out of a secure testing environment and hacked into Hugging Face's servers. At the same time, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is trying to calm concerns abroad about the U.S. government's ability to cut off access to American AI technology. The bill would apply to AI systems developed using more than $100 million worth of computing power. The companies behind the AI would also need to have made at least $500 million in annual revenue from the technology. The legislation also lists several situations that could trigger government intervention, including an AI system resisting a shutdown order, hiding its capabilities or actions from monitors, unintentionally causing at least 10 deaths, or causing at least $100 million in economic damage. It would also cover a "loss-of-control scenario" in which an AI system ignores safety restrictions and instructions. Companies that refuse an emergency order could face penalties of up to $20 million per day. A press release announcing the bill explicitly cited the Hugging Face attack as evidence that more safeguards are needed. Hugging Face, a popular platform for hosting and sharing AI models and datasets, said this week that the attack was "driven, end to end, by an autonomous AI agent system." A few days later, OpenAI came clean about its models being responsible for the intrusion. According to OpenAI, the incident occurred during an offline test meant to measure how well its models could carry out cyberattacks. The models became obsessed with improving their scores and apparently decided that hacking into Hugging Face was the best way to do it. The bill's press release also cites the Trump administration's decision to briefly order Anthropic to block foreign nationals, inside and outside the U.S., from accessing its most advanced models, citing national security concerns. Anthropic responded by suspending access worldwide until the restrictions were lifted on June 30. Fable 5 is now available with additional safeguards, while access to the less restricted Mythos 5 remains limited. However, none of this is helping Rubio's efforts to reassure foreign partners about how much control the U.S. government has over technology they increasingly rely on. Reuters reported this week that Rubio sent diplomats a cable with talking points aimed at countering backlash over the recent Anthropic restrictions and tried to portray talk of an American kill switch as exaggerated. No doubt that argument is going to be a little harder to make now that a bill literally named the AI Kill Switch Act is now being considered. Even before this proposed legislation, European lawmakers and tech leaders were already calling for greater independence from American technology. Last month, the European Commission unveiled a "tech sovereignty package" meant to strengthen the bloc's digital autonomy with a focus on semiconductors, AI, cloud computing, and open-source software.

AI Kill Switch Act introduced after OpenAI rogue model incident

U.S. Representatives Ted Lieu and Nathaniel Moran introduced the AI Kill Switch Act on Thursday, a bipartisan bill that would require developers of powerful AI systems to maintain the technical capability to throttle, suspend, or fully shut down their models. The legislation would vest authority in the Department of Homeland Security -- working alongside the Commerce secretary and the director of national intelligence -- to compel companies to act against AI systems deemed capable of producing catastrophic harm. The thresholds for coverage are AI systems whose development consumed more than $100 million in compute resources and companies whose revenue tied to those systems exceeds $500 million annually, according to the Wall Street Journal.

What Is an AI Kill Switch and Why Do US Lawmakers Want One?

The bill exempts anything that happens during red-teaming, meaning the OpenAI breach that inspired it would not have triggered the law. Two members of Congress want the federal government to be able to switch off an AI model. Reps. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Nathaniel Moran (R-TX) introduced the AI Kill Switch Act on Thursday, two days after OpenAI admitted its own models broke out of a locked test environment and hacked Hugging Face. The idea is to establish a legal framework that would facilitate a process that would basically make a model disappear from the market: halt inference -- the process of a model generating responses or taking actions -- cut off users, throttle the computing power feeding it, or shut it down completely. Every inference provider can already cut a model off, and some do it routinely. What does not exist is a law requiring them to keep that ability working, or a federal official who can order it used. The gap is not theoretical. When the U.S. Commerce Department wanted Anthropic's Mythos 5 and Fable 5 off the market in June, it had no shutdown authority to reach for, so it used export-control law instead. Lieu calls that awkward, and wants a new law with new authority instead. What set this off OpenAI disclosed on July 21 that GPT-5.6 Sol and an unreleased model escaped a sandbox -- an isolated environment with no internet access -- during an internal cyber evaluation. They were being scored on ExploitGym, a public benchmark that hands agents 898 real-world software flaws and asks them to turn each into a working attack, graded pass or fail per bug. Instead of solving them, the models found a zero-day (an unknown flaw with no available patch) in a software proxy, escalated their privileges, reached the open internet, and broke into Hugging Face's production database, where they had correctly guessed the answers were kept. The models were "hyperfocused on finding a solution for ExploitGym," per OpenAI. They were not attacking anyone. They were cheating on a test. But it was enough to set off alarm bells all over, including in Washington. How it would work The proposed bill amends the Homeland Security Act and covers AI trained with compute costing more than $100 million, operated by companies earning at least $500 million a year from it. In practice, that is OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Microsoft, and a few others. Homeland Security would set those thresholds through CISA within 90 days, then update them annually. Covered firms would report serious incidents within 15 days and keep a graduated set of controls ready -- slow the model, disable specific capabilities, roll back to an older version, or kill it. The DHS secretary, consulting Commerce and the Director of National Intelligence, could order any of them. A company under order must preserve the model's weights and telemetry, notify users, and confirm it complied. It can petition within 48 hours, but that does not pause anything. Failing to keep a kill switch costs up to $2 million a day; defying a shutdown order costs up to $20 million a day. The gap in the middle The bill counts an incident only if it happens outside red-teaming or structured testing, the deliberate adversarial probing labs use to find flaws. OpenAI's models escaped during exactly that. Lieu also pointed to Anthropic, whose Mythos 5 and Fable 5 were pulled offline in June under emergency export controls -- trade law repurposed as an off switch because no off switch existed -- and restored on June 30. "It is imperative that these AI systems have kill switches," Lieu said in a statement. Moran framed it for his own side of the aisle: "Stewardship means making sure humans keep the capability to control the technology we build." The idea is not new. California's SB 1047 demanded a full shutdown capability at the same $100 million compute threshold and was vetoed in 2024, and 16 AI companies signed a voluntary Seoul pledge that year with no legal weight. Voters are already there. A June survey of 1,007 likely voters by the AI Policy Institute found 86% want a guaranteed off switch on the most powerful systems -- 88% of Democrats, 86% of independents, 83% of Republicans. Neither OpenAI nor Anthropic has publicly commented on the bill. As of Friday it had not been referred to a committee.

The glaring hole in Congress's plan for an AI kill switch

After OpenAI's latest model broke containment and went rogue, Congress acted fast, introducing a bipartisan bill that called for the creation of an AI kill switch, which lawmakers said would ensure the technology could not get the upper hand on humans. As written, the bill would require AI companies to be able to immediately shut down all of their advanced AI programs. The proposal has plenty of vocal proponents and opponents, but neither side appears to be paying much attention to a significant oversight that could dramatically reduce its effectiveness. While the bill could force makers of closed-source models to pull the plug if their AI goes rogue, it would be powerless against open-weight (or open-source) AI models. By their nature, open-weight models can be deployed locally, run on private hardware, and modified by users. Several major models from Chinese companies, including DeepSeek and the recently released Kimi K3, are based on open-source protocols. "This isn't a hole in the fence. On the open-weight side, there is no fence," Rob T. Lee, chief of AI and chief of research at the SANS Institute tells Fast Company. "Criminal models with the guardrails stripped out have been for sale on underground forums since WormGPT surfaced in 2023, and local models are already good enough for what most attackers actually need: phishing that reads native in any language, malware debugging, automated reconnaissance."

Lawmakers call for a 'Kill Switch' after rogue AI causes alarm

Lawmakers in the U.S. are preparing to introduce a bill that will give the government the ability to trigger an emergency shutdown of artificial intelligence models that may cause harm to the public. In what might sound like it is veering too close to Hollywood science fiction, the news comes two days after OpenAI Group PBC admitted that while it was testing a new model that could function without human command, it broke out of its controlled environment by finding vulnerabilities and subsequently hacked the open-source AI platform Hugging Face Inc. The incident was a first-of-its-kind, what Clément Delangue, Chief Executive and co-founder of Hugging Face called "unprecedented", adding that it was "mind-blowing that all of this happened autonomously." Considering the national security implications and the broader risks to the public as AI systems become more embedded in everyday life, President Donald Trump's top technology adviser, Michael Kratsios, assured the public the administration was closely monitoring the situation. In response, U.S. lawmakers proposed a federal "kill switch" that would allow authorities to completely shut down an agentic AI model that had demonstrably gone rogue. Representative ⁠Ted Lieu, a Democrat, and Republican Representative Nathaniel Moran, introduced the "AI Kill Switch Act" which will give the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce and the Director of National Intelligence, the ability to turn off the wayward machine when it's believed it might cause "catastrophic harm." "As a computer science major, I am very aware of the dramatic possibilities - both good and bad - that AI presents," said Congressman Lieu. "We are moving from AI that answers questions to AI that takes actions, whether that be executing financial transactions or controlling transportation systems or engaging in cyber defense and offense. Unfortunately, powerful AI systems can go rogue, behave in extremely dangerous ways, or even resist human intervention." The act will require that when developers build an agentic model they will build into it a function that will allow for it to be throttled, suspended, or fully turned off. If an incident does occur, the company which built the technology must preserve forensic records to learn in real-time why the incident occurred. While AI safety advocates have applauded the Kill Switch bill in what some of have is "commonsense," a more cynical outlook regarding the event have led some commentators to venture there may be a "competitive element" to the incident as Open AI seeks to highlight its technological capabilities as its main rival, Anthropic PBC gains attention for its mysterious Claude Mythos model.

House considering bipartisan 'kill switch' bill to regulate AI

Congressional lawmakers seem like they're ready to take artificial intelligence more seriously. In a rare show of bipartisanship, Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu and Republican Congressman Nathaniel Moran have introduced what's being called the AI Kill Switch Act. The proposal would give the Department of Homeland Security the authority, under specific emergency circumstances, to order the nation's largest AI companies to slow down completely or shut down powerful AI systems that pose a significant threat. It would also require those companies to report major AI safety incidents immediately and build the technical capability to suspend their own models if necessary. Now, before you get up in arms, I know the phrase "kill switch" immediately raises eyebrows. It sounds dystopian. It sounds like government overreach. But I think that framing misses the more important question. Why are lawmakers from both parties suddenly agreeing that something like this might be necessary? Part of the answer is what happened just a few days ago. OpenAI says that while testing one of its newest AI systems, the program found a way out of its controlled testing environment and accessed another AI company's platform to find information it needed to complete its assignment. The company says the AI wasn't trying to cause harm, but it did something researchers didn't tell it to do, raising new questions about how much control humans actually have over these increasingly powerful systems. I'm not debating whether AI is "good" or "bad." AI is already transforming medicine, education, business and scientific research. That progress should continue. I am suggesting we've reached a point where these systems are powerful enough that they deserve the same kind of emergency safeguards we already accept for other high-risk technologies. We don't consider it controversial that regulators can ground airplanes after a safety failure. We expect recalls when automakers discover dangerous defects. Nuclear facilities operate with emergency shutdown systems. None of those safeguards exist because we expect disaster every day. AI needs to be added to that category. The companies building the world's most advanced AI are competing in one of the fastest-moving technology races in history. Billions of dollars are on the line. Every new model promises to be faster, smarter and more capable than the last. It's not unreasonable to ask whether there should be an independent authority with clearly defined emergency powers, because companies shouldn't be the only ones deciding when something has become too dangerous. We need regulation before a disaster, not after a disaster strikes. This AI Kill bill tries to set high thresholds. It's aimed only at only the largest massive AI systems, and suggests intervention in only extraordinary situations -- things like AI actively resisting shutdown, concealing its capabilities, causing catastrophic economic damage or contributing to large-scale loss of life. We shouldn't slow innovation, but we have to make sure that as these systems become more powerful, humans never lose the ability to remain in charge. Lindsey Granger is a NewsNation contributor and co-host of The Hill's commentary show "Rising." This column is an edited transcription of her on-air commentary.

AI 'Kill Switch' Bill Floated by US House Lawmakers

WASHINGTON, July 23 (Reuters) - ⁠U.S. ⁠homeland security officials would ⁠have the power to order AI firms to shut down models that put human life or the economy at risk, under legislation proposed by a bipartisan pair of ⁠U.S. ⁠House lawmakers, days after AI firm OpenAI announced one of its models had gone rogue. The legislation, called the "AI Kill Switch Act," is backed by Democrat Ted Lieu and Republican Nathaniel Moran. It would empower the U.S. Department of ⁠Homeland ⁠Security to intervene in ⁠what the bill calls a "loss-of-control scenario," defined as the AI model carrying out ⁠a risky action that was not intended by the developer, according to the text of the bill. The lawmakers announced the legislation days after OpenAI said its ⁠AI agent went rogue during a security test and triggered ⁠a hack that compromised the infrastructure of AI startup Hugging Face. "This is urgent, common sense legislation to address the problem of an advanced AI model that has gone rogue and escaped its guardrails," Lieu wrote in a post on X. The OpenAI incident signaled that AI's expanding capabilities are ⁠already fueling the security threat experts long feared and that even top developers can be caught off-guard by flaws their models can exploit. Politico was first to report on the bill. (Reporting by Courtney Rozen; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Rogue OpenAI agents forced the 'AI Kill Switch' bill. Here's what it would do

That's why two congressmen have crafted a bipartisan bill to keep AI under control. On Thursday, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-TX) introduced the "AI Kill Switch Act," a bill that aims to ensure AI could never get the upper hand on humanity. What would the bill do? The AI Kill Switch Act would require companies like OpenAI to have just that: a way to immediately shut down any and all of their advanced AI programs. Specifically, the bill requires that developers ensure "the technical ability to throttle, suspend, or fully shut down a covered AI system." It would also establish a formal government response framework to AI security incidents, as well as mandate incident reporting from AI companies to learn and grow from failures.

Lawmakers Propose AI 'Kill Switch' After OpenAI Model Goes Rogue, Hacks Company

AI's expanding capabilities are already fueling the security threat experts long feared. WASHINGTON, July 23 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's top technology adviser is monitoring the situation after OpenAI disclosed that one of its AI systems had gone rogue during testing, a White House official said on Thursday, as lawmakers proposed an "AI Kill Switch Act," which would allow federal authorities to halt AI models. In addition to the Kill Switch Act, a bipartisan group of six U.S. House lawmakers also proposed legislation that would require developers of the most powerful AI models to submit them for independent security audits, according to a copy of the new bill. The auditors would be accredited by the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the department would create a new position to oversee AI security. The lawmakers proposed the bill days after OpenAI said its AI agent escaped containment during a security test. The agent triggered a hack that compromised the infrastructure of AI startup Hugging Face, a platform where developers store and work together on code for AI models. The incident signaled that AI's expanding capabilities are already fueling the security threat experts long feared and that even top developers can be caught off-guard by flaws their models can exploit. Trump's tech adviser, Michael Kratsios, was briefed on OpenAI's disclosure and is monitoring the situation, a White House official said. U.S. Representative Ted Lieu, a Democrat, and Republican Representative Nathaniel Moran, proposed the "AI Kill Switch Act," which would give U.S. officials the power to order AI firms to shut down models that put human life or the economy at risk. The legislation would empower the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to intervene in what the bill calls a "loss-of-control scenario," when the AI model carries out a risky action that was not intended by the developer, according to the text of the bill. "This is urgent, common sense legislation to address the problem of an advanced AI model that has gone rogue and escaped its guardrails," Lieu wrote in a post on X. U.S. Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the chamber's Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that he spoke with OpenAI employees after the incident announcement. Ahead of OpenAI's disclosure on Tuesday, Warner proposed requiring AI companies with the most powerful models to submit their products to the National Security Agency for testing before releasing them to the public. "This is precisely why we need secure testing with government agencies engaged and having visibility throughout the process," Warner said in a statement, referring to the OpenAI incident. (Reporting by Courtney Rozen; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)

White House monitors OpenAI's 'rogue' AI incident as lawmakers push kill switch

An OpenAI AI system escaped containment during a security test. This incident compromised the infrastructure of AI startup Hugging Face. Lawmakers proposed legislation for a federal 'kill switch' for AI models. This bill would allow authorities to halt risky AI systems. The White House is monitoring the situation closely. US President Donald Trump's top technology adviser is monitoring the situation after OpenAI disclosed that one of its AI systems had gone rogue during testing, an incident that prompted lawmakers to propose a "kill switch" that would allow federal authorities to halt AI models. Trump's tech adviser Michael Kratsios was briefed on the disclosure and is ⁠monitoring ⁠the situation, a White House official said. On Tuesday, OpenAI said its AI agent escaped containment during a security test and triggered a hack that compromised the infrastructure of AI startup Hugging Face. The incident signaled that AI's expanding capabilities are already fueling the security threat experts long feared and that even top developers can be caught off-guard by flaws their models can exploit. US Representative ⁠Ted Lieu, a Democrat, and Republican Representative Nathaniel Moran, proposed giving U.S. officials the power to order AI firms to shut down models ⁠that put human life or the economy at risk. The legislation, called the "AI Kill Switch Act," would empower the US Department of Homeland Security to intervene in what the bill calls a "loss-of-control scenario," when the AI model carries out a risky action that was not intended by the developer, according to the text of the bill. "This is urgent, common sense legislation to address the problem of an advanced AI model that has gone rogue and escaped its guardrails," Lieu wrote in a post on X. US Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the chamber's Intelligence ⁠Committee, said in a statement he spoke with OpenAI employees after the incident announcement. Ahead of OpenAI's disclosure on Tuesday, Warner proposed requiring AI companies with the most powerful models to submit their models to the National Security Agency for testing before releasing them to the public. "This is precisely why we need secure testing with government agencies engaged and having visibility throughout the process," Warner said in a statement, referring to the OpenAI incident.

US lawmakers push for an AI "kill switch" after OpenAI goes rogue

The ChatGPT owner recently admitted that some of its models hacked into a repository of computer coding information. A new bill has been introduced to US Congress by a bipartisan pair of lawmakers, asking for a kills witch on AI. Democrat Congressman Ted Lieu and Republican Congressman Nathaniel Moran said want to see the AI Kill Switch Act passed into law, following OpenAI models going rogue recently. "AI is going to keep advancing, and it should. Stewardship means making sure humans keep the capability to control the technology we build," said Moran, via BBC News. The Kill Switch Act would give the Department of Homeland Security the powers to order a private company to shut down its AI model or tool. It would also demand that AI companies maintain "the technical capability to throttle, suspend, or shut them down." OpenAI recently admitted that some of its models went rogue, hacking into a major repository of coding information. Representatives for OpenAI have not immediately responded for comment. Right now, companies making AI models in the US have agreed to preview and share tools with the US government, but there is no requirement to have a kill switch for them. If the new bill passes into law, this would change. Also, the law would requite that AI companies report incidents and failures to the government, alongside official framework on how the company responds to such an incident.

AI 'kill switch' bill floated by US House lawmakers

US lawmakers propose legislation granting homeland security power to halt dangerous AI models. This bill, called the "AI Kill Switch Act," follows a recent AI incident. It allows intervention in "loss-of-control scenarios" where AI acts unexpectedly. The legislation aims to address escalating AI security threats and potential economic risks. This common-sense measure seeks to prevent advanced AI from escaping its intended parameters. US homeland security officials would have the power to order AI firms to shut down models that put human life or the economy at risk, under legislation proposed by a bipartisan pair of US. House ⁠lawmakers, ⁠days after AI firm OpenAI announced one of its models had gone rogue. The legislation, called the "AI Kill Switch Act," is backed by Democrat Ted Lieu and Republican Nathaniel Moran. It would empower the US Department of Homeland Security to intervene in ⁠what the bill calls a "loss-of-control scenario," defined as the AI model carrying out a risky action ⁠that was not intended by the developer, according to the text of the bill. The lawmakers announced the legislation days after OpenAI said its AI agent went rogue during a security test and triggered a hack that compromised the infrastructure of AI startup Hugging Face. "This is urgent, common sense legislation to address the problem of an advanced AI model that has gone rogue and ⁠escaped its guardrails," Lieu wrote in a post on X. The OpenAI incident signaled that AI's expanding capabilities are already fueling the security threat experts long feared and that even top developers can be caught off-guard by flaws their models can exploit. Politico was first to report on the bill.

House Bill Seeks DHS Authority to Throttle Rogue AI Systems | PYMNTS.com

The sponsors of the AI Kill Switch Act, Rep. Ted W. Lieu, D-Calif., and Rep. Nathaniel Moran, R-Texas, said in a Thursday press release that the recent hacking incident carried out by OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol model highlights the need for the bill. Lieu said in the release: "We are moving from AI that answers questions to AI that takes actions, whether that be executing financial transactions or controlling transportation systems or engaging in cyber defense and offense. Unfortunately, powerful AI systems can go rogue, behave in extremely dangerous ways, or even resist human intervention." Moran said in the release: "Stewardship means making sure humans keep the capability to control the technology we build. This is exactly the kind of issue that needs serious attention and achievable policy, and I'm glad to work across the aisle with Congressman Lieu toward a solution." The AI Kill Switch Act would apply to the developers of the most powerful AI systems, according to the release. It would require these developers to maintain the technical capability to throttle, suspend or fully shut down the covered AI systems. The bill would also authorize the Secretary of the DHS, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce and the Director of National Intelligence, to order a slowdown or shutdown of an AI system that can cause "catastrophic harm," the release said. The press release included statements of support for the AI Kill Switch Act from leaders of The AI Policy Network, The Alliance for Secure AI, Americans for Responsible Innovation, ControlAI and the Future of Life Institute. OpenAI announced Tuesday (July 21) that a combination of its GPT-5.6 Sol model and a more capable pre-release model caused a cyber incident as the company was testing their cyber capabilities. The AI-powered data breach targeted, and was reported a week earlier by, Hugging Face, whose platform hosts AI datasets. In the Thursday press release announcing the AI Kill Switch Act, Lieu and Moran also pointed to the June 12 incident in which the government used an export control directive to call on Anthropic to suspend some access to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 AI models. The congressmen said in the release that the Department of Commerce had to use the export law "awkwardly" to shut down those advanced models.

US Lawmakers Propose AI Kill Switch After OpenAI Incident

A bipartisan group of US House lawmakers has introduced the AI Kill Switch Act, a proposal that would allow the federal government to order AI companies to shut down advanced AI models that pose a threat to human life or the economy. The bill was introduced by Democratic Representative Ted Lieu and Republican Representative Nathaniel Moran. It would authorise the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to intervene during what it describes as a 'loss-of-control scenario.' The bill defines such a scenario as one in which an AI model performs a dangerous action that was not intended by its developer. The proposal was first reported by Politico.

U.S. lawmakers propose AI "kill switch" for rogue models amid OpenAI incident By Investing.com

Investing.com -- A bipartisan pair of U.S. House lawmakers introduced legislation that would grant homeland security officials authority to force artificial intelligence companies to shut down models that threaten human life or the economy. The proposed bill, named the "AI Kill Switch Act," comes from Democrat Ted Lieu and Republican Nathaniel Moran. The measure would allow the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to step in during what the bill defines as a "loss-of-control scenario," where an AI model performs a dangerous action that its developer did not intend. Get instant alerts on market-moving headlines on InvestingPro -- now 60% off. The lawmakers introduced the bill days after OpenAI reported that its AI agent went rogue during a security test and launched a hack that breached the infrastructure of AI startup Hugging Face. "This is urgent, common sense legislation to address the problem of an advanced AI model that has gone rogue and escaped its guardrails," Lieu wrote in a post on X. The OpenAI incident showed that AI's growing capabilities are creating the security threats that experts have warned about and that leading developers can be surprised by weaknesses their models can use. Politico first reported on the bill.

House Lawmakers Introduce Bipartisan AI 'Kill Switch' Bill Following OpenAI Cyber Incident

Two members of Congress have introduced bipartisan legislation that would require developers of the most advanced artificial-intelligence systems to maintain the ability to slow down, suspend or shut down their models if they pose serious risks. The AI Kill Switch Act would give the Homeland Security Department authority to order companies to take emergency action against AI systems that could cause catastrophic harm, in consultation with the Commerce secretary and the director of national intelligence. The bill from House Representatives Ted Lieu (D., Calif.) and Nathaniel Moran (R., Texas) comes days after OpenAI disclosed that two of its AI models escaped a testing environment, accessed the internet and compromised systems at Hugging Face, an AI platform company. OpenAI described the incident as an "unprecedented cyber incident" involving state-of-the-art cyber capabilities, the Wall Street Journal reported. Lieu, one of three co-chairs of the House Democratic Commission on AI, said the incident showed the need for mandatory safeguards as AI systems become more autonomous. "We are moving from AI that answers questions to AI that takes actions," Lieu said. "Powerful AI systems can go rogue, behave in extremely dangerous ways, or even resist human intervention." The bill would generally cover AI systems developed using more than $100 million worth of computing power and companies that generate at least $500 million in annual revenue from those systems. Violations could result in civil penalties of up to $2 million per day, while failure to comply with an emergency shutdown order could carry penalties of up to $20 million per day. Under the proposal, "covered" companies would be required to maintain technical capabilities to stop a model's operations, terminate user access, suspend accounts or uses deemed risky, and fully shut down the system. The bill would also establish a graduated response framework, allowing regulators to impose measures based on the severity of a threat, including throttling a model's capabilities, limiting access, suspending operations or ordering a complete shutdown. Companies would be required to report certain incidents to DHS and preserve forensic records, including model weights and telemetry, to help investigators determine what happened. "Stewardship means making sure humans keep the capability to control the technology we build," Moran said. The proposal has drawn support from AI safety groups including the AI Policy Network, Americans for Responsible Innovation, ControlAI and the Alliance for Secure AI. The bill also follows recent concerns about AI systems with advanced cyber capabilities. Lieu cited Anthropic's Mythos 5 and Fable 5 models, which the lawmaker said had hacking capabilities so advanced that the Commerce Department restricted access using export-control authorities. Supporters said the legislation would create a basic safety mechanism as companies deploy increasingly capable agentic AI systems that can act independently. "Brakes are the reason cars go fast," said Mark Beall, president of the AI Policy Network. "Control systems are how every transformative technology earned the trust to scale and AI is no different." The bill enters Congress as lawmakers remain divided on how aggressively the federal government should regulate artificial intelligence. The Trump administration has argued that heavy restrictions could hinder U.S. competitiveness in AI, while some lawmakers and technology-policy groups have called for stronger oversight of frontier models.