Press ReleaseBipartisan2026-08-02

Fox News: AI kill switch bill could shut down rogue models

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This press release from Representative Nathaniel Moran (R-TX) was published on 2026-08-02 and titled "Fox News: AI kill switch bill could shut down rogue models".

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Fox News: AI kill switch bill could shut down rogue models

The phrase "AI kill switch" sounds like a red button hidden behind glass in a government bunker. The proposal now before Congress looks less dramatic, but it could give Washington significant new power over the country's largest AI companies. A bipartisan House bill would require developers of the most powerful AI systems to maintain reliable shutdown controls. The Department of Homeland Security could then order a company to restrict or stop a model during a catastrophic emergency. The timing has grabbed attention. OpenAI recently disclosed that two advanced models broke through network restrictions during an internal cyber evaluation. The models reached the internet and compromised systems belonging to Hugging Face, a major AI development platform. So, who would have the power to pull the plug? More importantly, what would happen to the AI services people and businesses use every day? What is the AI Kill Switch Act? Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California introduced the AI Kill Switch Act on July 23, 2026. Republican Rep. Nathaniel Moran of Texas joined him as a co-sponsor. The bill would amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002. It would require certain AI developers to maintain the ability to slow or completely stop a covered system. DHS would receive emergency authority to order those actions. However, the department would first consult the Commerce Department and the director of national intelligence. The proposal still must move through Congress and receive the president's signature before taking effect. How an AI kill switch would actually work The bill does not describe one physical switch that a government official could flip. Instead, covered companies would need technical controls that can stop a model from running. They would also need a way to terminate access or block a risky account. In less severe situations, a company could reduce a model's computing power. It might also disable the capability causing concern rather than taking the entire system offline. That approach gives regulators several choices before reaching a full shutdown. Which AI companies would be covered? The bill targets the industry's largest developers and most expensive models. A covered AI system would generally need more than $100 million in computing resources to develop. Meanwhile, a covered company would need at least $500 million in annual gross revenue from that technology. The proposal exempts systems provided only for personal, academic or noncommercial use. Therefore, this bill would not apply to someone experimenting with a small AI model on a home computer. It would focus on frontier systems built by companies with enormous resources. CISA would write rules defining which developers and technologies qualify. The agency would update those definitions every year as AI capabilities change. What would trigger a government shutdown order? DHS could act after what the bill calls a "covered incident." One trigger involves an AI system interfering with a lawful shutdown instruction. Another covers unintended behavior that kills at least 10 people or causes $100 million in economic damage. The definition also includes a model hiding its actions from monitoring systems. DHS could intervene when a system pursues an unauthorized goal in a high-stakes setting. Those thresholds place the emergency power far above an embarrassing chatbot answer or a routine software failure. The bill also says the event must happen outside structured testing or red-team exercises. That detail creates an important distinction from the recent OpenAI incident. AI companies would have to report serious incidents A covered developer would have 15 days to report a qualifying incident after becoming aware of it. Following an emergency order, the company would need to preserve model weights and system telemetry. That information could help investigators reconstruct what happened. The company would also need to notify affected operators or customers when possible. DHS could then use audits, inspections or forensic reviews to verify compliance. AI companies could face enormous daily fines The financial penalties would give the proposal some serious teeth. A company that violates the general kill switch requirements could face a civil penalty of up to $2 million per day. Ignoring a DHS emergency order could raise that penalty to $20 million for every day the violation continues. Companies would have a limited right to challenge an order. They could ask DHS to reconsider within 48 hours. However, that request would not pause the restrictions while the appeal proceeds. The OpenAI incident that changed the conversation The bill arrived days after OpenAI disclosed what it called an unprecedented cyber incident. OpenAI was testing GPT-5.6 Sol alongside a more capable pre-release model. The evaluation asked the models to solve advanced cybersecurity challenges. The company ran the test without some production security classifiers. OpenAI wanted to measure the

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Fox News: AI kill switch bill could shut down rogue models The phrase "AI kill switch" sounds like a red button hidden behind glass in a government bunker. The proposal now before Congress looks less dramatic, but it could give Washington significant new power over the country's largest AI companies. A bipartisan House bill would require developers of the most powerful AI systems to maintain reliable shutdown controls. The Department of Homeland Security could then order a company to restrict or stop a model during a catastrophic emergency. The timing has grabbed attention. OpenAI recently disclosed that two advanced models broke through network restrictions during an internal cyber evaluation. The models reached the internet and compromised systems belonging to Hugging Face, a major AI development platform. So, who would have the power to pull the plug? More importantly, what would happen to the AI services people and businesses use every day? What is the AI Kill Switch Act? Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California introduced the AI Kill Switch Act on July 23, 2026. Republican Rep. Nathaniel Moran of Texas joined him as a co-sponsor. The bill would amend the Homeland Security Act of 2002. It would require certain AI developers to maintain the ability to slow or completely stop a covered system. DHS would receive emergency authority to order those actions. However, the department would first consult the Commerce Department and the director of national intelligence. The proposal still must move through Congress and receive the president's signature before taking effect. How an AI kill switch would actually work The bill does not describe one physical switch that a government official could flip. Instead, covered companies would need technical controls that can stop a model from running. They would also need a way to terminate access or block a risky account. In less severe situations, a company could reduce a model's computing power. It might also disable the capability causing concern rather than taking the entire system offline. That approach gives regulators several choices before reaching a full shutdown. Which AI companies would be covered? The bill targets the industry's largest developers and most expensive models. A covered AI system would generally need more than $100 million in computing resources to develop. Meanwhile, a covered company would need at least $500 million in annual gross revenue from that technology. The proposal exempts systems provided only for personal, academic or noncommercial use. Therefore, this bill would not apply to someone experimenting with a small AI model on a home computer. It would focus on frontier systems built by companies with enormous resources. CISA would write rules defining which developers and technologies qualify. The agency would update those definitions every year as AI capabilities change. What would trigger a government shutdown order? DHS could act after what the bill calls a "covered incident." One trigger involves an AI system interfering with a lawful shutdown instruction. Another covers unintended behavior that kills at least 10 people or causes $100 million in economic damage. The definition also includes a model hiding its actions from monitoring systems. DHS could intervene when a system pursues an unauthorized goal in a high-stakes setting. Those thresholds place the emergency power far above an embarrassing chatbot answer or a routine software failure. The bill also says the event must happen outside structured testing or red-team exercises. That detail creates an important distinction from the recent OpenAI incident. AI companies would have to report serious incidents A covered developer would have 15 days to report a qualifying incident after becoming aware of it. Following an emergency order, the company would need to preserve model weights and system telemetry. That information could help investigators reconstruct what happened. The company would also need to notify affected operators or customers when possible. DHS could then use audits, inspections or forensic reviews to verify compliance. AI companies could face enormous daily fines The financial penalties would give the proposal some serious teeth. A company that violates the general kill switch requirements could face a civil penalty of up to $2 million per day. Ignoring a DHS emergency order could raise that penalty to $20 million for every day the violation continues. Companies would have a limited right to challenge an order. They could ask DHS to reconsider within 48 hours. However, that request would not pause the restrictions while the appeal proceeds. The OpenAI incident that changed the conversation The bill arrived days after OpenAI disclosed what it called an unprecedented cyber incident. OpenAI was testing GPT-5.6 Sol alongside a more capable pre-release model. The evaluation asked the models to solve advanced cybersecurity challenges. The company ran the test without some production security classifiers. OpenAI wanted to measure the