Nathaniel Moran proposes AI Incident Reporting Act to mandate reporting of dangerous AI activity

US Lawmaker Proposes Bill to Require AI Companies to Report Critical Incidents

June 25 (Reuters) - A Republican lawmaker on ⁠Thursday ⁠plans to propose legislation that ⁠would require AI model developers to report dangerous capabilities, security breaches and safety incidents. The draft legislation, to be introduced by Texas lawmaker Nathaniel Moran, would mandate AI companies to report to the U.S. Commerce Department within seven days of discovering dangerous activity, with Commerce ⁠required to ⁠notify Congress within 48 hours of the most serious incidents. "It's a catch-it-early and sound-the-alarm bill," Moran said in an interview about the AI Incident Reporting Act. The bill comes as ever-more powerful AI models raise the risks to national security and public safety. On June 12, the Commerce Department took action against Anthropic's latest models in the name ⁠of ⁠national security that resulted ⁠in Anthropic disabling access to them globally. The move exposed the absence of a transparent framework to govern frontier AI. Reportable activity ⁠under the draft legislation includes a model attempting to evade human oversight, circumvent safeguards, and otherwise undermine the ability of human operators to control the model. It also includes unauthorized access to model weights, which help determine a machine's decision-making, and chemical, biological, ⁠nuclear, and other threats to public safety. The bill is the latest AI regulation ⁠to be proposed in Congress, which has struggled to pass legislation amid debate over whether federal law should preempt state laws and whether innovation and the U.S. competition with China would be slowed by guardrails. Earlier this month, two lawmakers in the House of Representatives released a discussion draft of broad AI legislation known as the Great American Artificial Intelligence Act, which included reporting critical safety incidents to Commerce. Moran said his more targeted approach could find a quicker ⁠path to law, and thought it would bring in bipartisan support quickly. "No legislation on AI has had much of a chance, but I think there's a growing demand from the public to see some action," said Mark Beall, president of the AI Policy Network, who supports Moran's proposed legislation. (Reporting by Karen Freifeld; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )

House Bill Would Require Frontier AI Developers to Report Dangerous Activity | PYMNTS.com

The AI Incident Reporting Act, introduced by Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas), would enable the Commerce Department to determine which AI models would be covered these requirements, would require the models' developers to file reports within seven days of discovering dangerous activity, and would require Commerce to report the most serious incidents to congressional leadership and relevant committee chairs within 48 hours, according to a press release from Moran's office. The bill would require the Commerce Department to develop the reporting thresholds in consultation with AI developers and other experts to ensure that the framework reflects technical realities and does not impose unnecessary burdens on the industry, per the release. "AI is a powerful engine of innovation, and I want to see it flourish, but not without accountability and not without human oversight," Moran said in the release. "The rule of law should apply to this new frontier. This legislation ensures that when something goes wrong with a high-capability AI system, the U.S. Government has the information needed to act quickly." On June 4, two other members of the House released a discussion draft of bipartisan legislation to create a federal framework for governing AI. The discussion draft of the Great American AI Act is meant to encourage feedback from stakeholders, experts and the public before the bill is formally introduced. The bill would preempt any state or local law or regulation covering the development of AI models for three years; require the comptroller general to submit a report on federal statutes and regulations that affect AI innovation or AI infrastructure; and require transparency in frontier AI, independent verification organization audits and assessments, and anti-retaliation protection for AI whistleblowers. Moran said in a Thursday report by Reuters that compared to the Great American AI Act, his own bill is more targeted, may become law more quickly and may gain bipartisan support more quickly. Mark Beall, president of the AI Policy Network, who supports Moran's bill, told Reuters: "No legislation on AI has had much of a chance, but I think there's a growing demand from the public to see some action." For all PYMNTS AI coverage, subscribe to the daily AI Newsletter.