Press ReleaseBipartisan2026-07-28

What They’re Saying: Broad Coalition Lauds Bipartisan FRONTIER Act

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This press release from Representative Lori Trahan (D-MA) was published on 2026-07-28 and titled "What They’re Saying: Broad Coalition Lauds Bipartisan FRONTIER Act".

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What They’re Saying: Broad Coalition Lauds Bipartisan FRONTIER Act

Less than a week after Congresswoman Lori Trahan (D-MA-03) and Congressman Jay Obernolte (R-CA-23) introduced the Frontier Risk Oversight, National Transparency, Independent Evaluation, and Reporting (FRONTIER) Act , a broad coalition of stakeholders is praising the bipartisan legislation that would establish a federal risk-based framework governing the development and deployment of the most advanced artificial intelligence models. The FRONTIER Act would establish a tiered, risk-based national framework for oversight of the most advanced AI models, requiring the largest developers to publish safety frameworks, submit to independent third-party audits and verification, and report critical safety incidents to a new Under Secretary of Commerce for AI Security. It is an updated version of the Commerce-focused portions of the lawmakers’ Great American AI Act (GAAIA) discussion draft, reworked over seven weeks of stakeholder feedback to narrow its preemption of state law and sharpen its auditing and reporting provisions. “Not too long ago, a bipartisan bill this good and serious would have been a pipe dream. But things change quickly. This is by far the best AI safety bill ever introduced, in any jurisdiction,” said Charlie Bullock, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Law AI . “There are still some flaws that I would like to see fixed, and some improvements to be made, but overall I'm very impressed with how well Reps. Trahan and Obernolte did on this. The next step is actually *passing* this kind of legislation, which unfortunately still seems like a pretty heavy lift. But this is a very promising first step.” “AI governance keeps running into the same wall. The technology is hard to measure and it moves faster than any law can keep up with,” said Andrew Freedman, Co-Founder and CEO of Fathom . “Trying to write the perfect rules and freezing them in place won’t work. What will work is a competitive market of independent verifiers who are accountable for real-world outcomes and who the government can actually count on. The FRONTIER Act shows we can move fast and still get this right.” “The latest version of the bipartisan Obernolte–Trahan framework, FRONTIER Act, is a serious step forward. It's one of the strongest efforts yet to establish a federal AI framework that protects Americans while preserving America's leadership in AI,” said the Alliance for a Better Future . “The bill gets several things right. Frontier developers would publish safety frameworks, file transparency reports before deployment, report serious safety incidents, and provide rapid notification when an imminent threat emerges. It also establishes meaningful emergency response authority and independent oversight for the most advanced AI systems. That's a targeted, risk-based approach that puts oversight where it's actually needed.” “Rep. Lori Trahan and Rep. Jay Obernolte's bipartisan FRONTIER Act deserves a lot of credit here; they are clearly engaged with stakeholders and civil society across the spectrum and have incorporated extensive feedback,” said Caleb Knapp, Senior Policy Manager and Secure AI Now . “In an ideal world, federal standards for frontier AI model pre-deployment would have crossed the finish line a year ago. Strongly addressing these issues is even more imperative as the technology develops further. We are seeing more instances of AI misalignment with OpenAI/Hugging Face, Kimi, and otherwise. Is the bill perfect? No. But it is the strongest federal frontier bill to date and builds on all the great work occurring at the state level in CA, NY, IL, and elsewhere.” “The FRONTIER Act is a meaningful bipartisan effort to strengthen oversight of the most advanced Al systems, and it's the strongest federal proposal to date. It builds on state regulations in many ways and incorporates a lot of the feedback that various stakeholders gave on the earlier discussion draft,” said the AI Verification Evaluation Research Institute (AVERI) . “There are some remaining areas for improvement, including making sure that state laws are not preempted until their federal replacements are ready and clarifying some of the auditing provisions. But this is undoubtedly a step in the right direction and we look forward to working with Representatives Trahan and Obernolte, their staff, and other members of Congress to strengthen this proposal and advance effective oversight of frontier Al.” “Like a lot of people on [Twitter], I had some concerns regarding the initial federal framework discussion draft that Reps. Lori Trahan and Jay Obernolte released a couple weeks ago. I am happy to say that, after substantial engagement and feedback, they’ve crafted the strongest ai safety proposal to date in the FRONTIER Act. There’s still some improvements I’d like to see in the text, and I look forward to continued conversation with the sponsors. But! The narrower preemption and strong auditing provisions should inspire confidence that congress is evolving t

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What They’re Saying: Broad Coalition Lauds Bipartisan FRONTIER Act Less than a week after Congresswoman Lori Trahan (D-MA-03) and Congressman Jay Obernolte (R-CA-23) introduced the Frontier Risk Oversight, National Transparency, Independent Evaluation, and Reporting (FRONTIER) Act , a broad coalition of stakeholders is praising the bipartisan legislation that would establish a federal risk-based framework governing the development and deployment of the most advanced artificial intelligence models. The FRONTIER Act would establish a tiered, risk-based national framework for oversight of the most advanced AI models, requiring the largest developers to publish safety frameworks, submit to independent third-party audits and verification, and report critical safety incidents to a new Under Secretary of Commerce for AI Security. It is an updated version of the Commerce-focused portions of the lawmakers’ Great American AI Act (GAAIA) discussion draft, reworked over seven weeks of stakeholder feedback to narrow its preemption of state law and sharpen its auditing and reporting provisions. “Not too long ago, a bipartisan bill this good and serious would have been a pipe dream. But things change quickly. This is by far the best AI safety bill ever introduced, in any jurisdiction,” said Charlie Bullock, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Law AI . “There are still some flaws that I would like to see fixed, and some improvements to be made, but overall I'm very impressed with how well Reps. Trahan and Obernolte did on this. The next step is actually *passing* this kind of legislation, which unfortunately still seems like a pretty heavy lift. But this is a very promising first step.” “AI governance keeps running into the same wall. The technology is hard to measure and it moves faster than any law can keep up with,” said Andrew Freedman, Co-Founder and CEO of Fathom . “Trying to write the perfect rules and freezing them in place won’t work. What will work is a competitive market of independent verifiers who are accountable for real-world outcomes and who the government can actually count on. The FRONTIER Act shows we can move fast and still get this right.” “The latest version of the bipartisan Obernolte–Trahan framework, FRONTIER Act, is a serious step forward. It's one of the strongest efforts yet to establish a federal AI framework that protects Americans while preserving America's leadership in AI,” said the Alliance for a Better Future . “The bill gets several things right. Frontier developers would publish safety frameworks, file transparency reports before deployment, report serious safety incidents, and provide rapid notification when an imminent threat emerges. It also establishes meaningful emergency response authority and independent oversight for the most advanced AI systems. That's a targeted, risk-based approach that puts oversight where it's actually needed.” “Rep. Lori Trahan and Rep. Jay Obernolte's bipartisan FRONTIER Act deserves a lot of credit here; they are clearly engaged with stakeholders and civil society across the spectrum and have incorporated extensive feedback,” said Caleb Knapp, Senior Policy Manager and Secure AI Now . “In an ideal world, federal standards for frontier AI model pre-deployment would have crossed the finish line a year ago. Strongly addressing these issues is even more imperative as the technology develops further. We are seeing more instances of AI misalignment with OpenAI/Hugging Face, Kimi, and otherwise. Is the bill perfect? No. But it is the strongest federal frontier bill to date and builds on all the great work occurring at the state level in CA, NY, IL, and elsewhere.” “The FRONTIER Act is a meaningful bipartisan effort to strengthen oversight of the most advanced Al systems, and it's the strongest federal proposal to date. It builds on state regulations in many ways and incorporates a lot of the feedback that various stakeholders gave on the earlier discussion draft,” said the AI Verification Evaluation Research Institute (AVERI) . “There are some remaining areas for improvement, including making sure that state laws are not preempted until their federal replacements are ready and clarifying some of the auditing provisions. But this is undoubtedly a step in the right direction and we look forward to working with Representatives Trahan and Obernolte, their staff, and other members of Congress to strengthen this proposal and advance effective oversight of frontier Al.” “Like a lot of people on [Twitter], I had some concerns regarding the initial federal framework discussion draft that Reps. Lori Trahan and Jay Obernolte released a couple weeks ago. I am happy to say that, after substantial engagement and feedback, they’ve crafted the strongest ai safety proposal to date in the FRONTIER Act. There’s still some improvements I’d like to see in the text, and I look forward to continued conversation with the sponsors. But! The narrower preemption and strong auditing provisions should inspire confidence that congress is evolving t