Tech & Science
AI Kill Switch Act: U.S. Congress proposes power to shut down dangerous AI systems
On July 23, 2026, Democratic Representative Ted Lieu and Republican Congressman Nathaniel Moran introduced the AI Kill Switch Act to Congress, per the BBC. This bipartisan bill grants the Department of Homeland Security power to order the shutdown of dangerous AI models. Companies must maintain technical capability to halt systems and report incidents to the government. The legislation responds to OpenAI's admission that some models became uncontrollable and hacked a code repository, and the Department of Commerce's regulatory block of Anthropic's Mythos and Fable models due to their offensive cybersecurity capabilities. Five organizations publicly supported the bill upon its introduction.