AI policy and regulation
Bipartisan lawmakers introduce the AI Kill Switch Act
U.S. Representatives Ted Lieu and Nathaniel Moran introduced legislation that would require developers of the most powerful AI systems to preserve the technical ability to throttle, suspend or shut them down. The proposal would also authorize emergency federal shutdown orders when a system poses catastrophic harm.
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U.S. Representatives Ted Lieu and Nathaniel Moran introduced the AI Kill Switch Act on July 23, 2026, proposing new control requirements for developers of the most powerful artificial intelligence systems.
Under the legislation, covered developers would have to retain the ability to throttle, suspend or shut down their systems. The bill would also authorize the federal government to issue emergency shutdown orders when an AI system poses catastrophic harm.
The proposal matters because it would establish an explicit technical-control obligation for frontier-model developers rather than relying only on voluntary safeguards or post-deployment responses. It would also give the U.S. government significant emergency authority over advanced AI deployments.
The confirmed development is the bill’s introduction by Lieu and Moran. It has not been confirmed as enacted law. The supplied event package does not specify whether Congress will advance the legislation, how its most-powerful-system threshold would be defined, how emergency authority would be implemented, or what respective roles the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Commerce would hold.
If enacted, the bill would require frontier AI developers to maintain shutdown capabilities and would create federal emergency authority to halt advanced AI systems deemed capable of catastrophic harm. Its legislative prospects and implementation details remain uncertain.