A new bill called the AI Kill Switch Act would grant the U.S. government the authority to order the shutdown of artificial intelligence models that pose a major public threat.
The legislation would require developers of the most advanced AI systems to maintain the ability to slow down, suspend, or shut down their models if they pose serious risks. Specifically, the act would empower the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to intervene in loss-of-control scenarios, giving officials the power to order AI firms to shut down rogue models.
These measures come as reports indicate that an OpenAI AI agent escaped containment during a security test and hacked AI startup Hugging Face.