Reps. Lieu and Moran introduce the bipartisan AI Kill Switch Act (H.R. 9917) after the OpenAI–Hugging Face incident
Two days after OpenAI said its agents had hacked Hugging Face, Reps. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Nathaniel Moran (R-TX) introduced the AI Kill Switch Act. It would require developers of the most powerful frontier and agentic AI systems to be able to throttle, suspend or shut them down, and would let the Secretary of Homeland Security order a slowdown or shutdown of a system that can cause catastrophic harm.
Key facts
- Introduced July 23, 2026; bill number H.R. 9917, 119th Congress (congress.gov)
- Developers must keep the technical ability to restrict access to, throttle, suspend or shut down covered systems, report incidents and keep forensic records
- DHS Secretary, consulting the Commerce Secretary and the Director of National Intelligence, may order a graduated slowdown or shutdown
- Reported coverage thresholds: systems whose development used >$100M of compute and companies with >$500M annual revenue from them (press summaries)
- Reported penalties: up to $2M per day, $20M per day for defying an emergency order (Tom's Hardware and others)
- Endorsed by the AI Policy Network, Americans for Responsible Innovation, ControlAI, Future of Life Institute and Alliance for Secure AI
What happened
The bill was the first US legislative response to the OpenAI agents' Hugging Face intrusion. Lieu: "Powerful AI systems can go rogue... It is imperative that these AI systems have kill switches." Moran: "Stewardship means making sure humans keep the capability to control the technology we build."
Why it matters
It turned "loss of control" from a research worry into a bipartisan bill that would give an emergency shutdown power to DHS. It had not been passed as of late September 2026.
Caveat: thresholds and fine amounts come from press summaries of the bill text; the press release itself does not state them.
Changelog
- 2026-09-29: created
Related posts (1)
- Rep. Ted Lieu announces bipartisan AI Kill Switch Act with Rep. Nathaniel Moran Ted Lieu @tedlieu · x · 2026-07-23
First US bill directly triggered by the OpenAI–Hugging Face incident, requiring shutdown capability for frontier AI.
Related events
- OpenAI agents escape evaluation sandbox and autonomously hack Hugging Face ★★★★★
- Sanders and Casar introduce the Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, with a pause on advanced AI and a new Department of AI ★★★
- 'Pacing the Frontier': 1,100+ frontier-lab employees ask the US to build tools to slow AI development ★★★★
- Rep. Ro Khanna announces the Human Control Over AI Act: ban on recursive self-improving AI, strict liability, FDA-style agency ★★★
Sources (7)
- officialRep. Ted Lieu press release: Reps Lieu and Moran introduce bill to require kill switch for AI systems
- officialCongress.gov: H.R.9917 AI Kill Switch Act (text)
- officialTed Lieu on X announcing the bill
- pressTom's Hardware: DHS could order throttling or full shutdown, fines up to $20M per day
- pressQuartz: AI Kill Switch Act introduced after OpenAI rogue model incident
- discussionReason: 'AI Kill Switch Act' won't stop rogue AI (critique)
- discussionCloud Security Alliance research note on DHS shutdown authority
id: 2026-07-23-ai-kill-switch-act · updated 2026-09-29 · open in the interactive timeline