Anthropic proposes US law to regulate AI models

Anthropic, the creator of the AI assistant Claude, confirmed on Friday that it is circulating a draft bill among US lawmakers to regulate artificial intelligence.

The proposal comes as Congress has not passed a federal AI law and US policy under President Donald Trump has relied mainly on voluntary industry pledges and executive orders intended to support the AI boom.

According to the draft, first reported by Politico, Washington could block a model's release or use if there is an imminent risk of killing or seriously injuring more than 50 people, or causing more than $1 billion in damages. A judge's approval would be required.

An Anthropic spokesperson said the proposal would give the federal government the ability to block or deter dangerous deployments of the most powerful models. The spokesperson said it would require frontier developers to test their most powerful models, disclose findings to the public, submit them to independent evaluation and maintain a strong security programme.

The proposed legislation would also override some state laws, including those in California. Anthropic had written in June that, without a strong federal law, states should retain full authority to legislate.

AI security concerns have grown after recent incidents involving autonomous AI agents, software that operates without constant human supervision. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called last month for the industry to slow development, warning that a group of AI agents could take control of “the entire internet” within six to 12 months.

Charlie Bullock of the Institute for Law & AI think tank called Anthropic's proposal “pretty reasonable” and said it was more than other frontier labs had done, but said on X that he considered it weaker than the competing FRONTIER Act introduced in the House of Representatives this summer.