House AI ‘kill switch’ bill unveiled after hack by rogue model

Published July 23, 2026 12:22pm ET | Updated July 23, 2026 12:22pm ET



Reps. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Nathaniel Moran (R-TX) introduced a bill that would authorize the government to shut down or restrict risky artificial intelligence models, after OpenAI revealed that its models broke out of a controlled environment and hacked another company without human direction.

The bill, known as the AI Kill Switch Act, would grant the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with the secretary of commerce and the director of national intelligence, the authority to order leading AI companies to shut down or rate-limit dangerous AI models and report any incidents. Frontier developers could be subject to up to $20 million in penalties per violation.

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