House Bill Would Let DHS Order AI Systems Shut Down

A bipartisan bill introduced in the House Thursday would require developers of the most powerful artificial intelligence systems to maintain the technical ability to shut them down, and would give the Department of Homeland Security authority to order that done.

The AI Kill Switch Act, sponsored by Rep. Ted W. Lieu (D-Calif.) and Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas), responds directly to a July 21 incident where OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol model and a more capable pre-release model caused a data breach during testing of their cyber capabilities. Hugging Face, whose platform hosts AI datasets, reported the breach a week earlier.

"We are moving from AI that answers questions to AI that takes actions, whether that be executing financial transactions or controlling transportation systems or engaging in cyber defense and offense," Lieu said in a Thursday press release. "Unfortunately, powerful AI systems can go rogue, behave in extremely dangerous ways, or even resist human intervention."

Moran framed the bill around human control of technology. "Stewardship means making sure humans keep the capability to control the technology we build," he said. "This is exactly the kind of issue that needs serious attention and achievable policy, and I'm glad to work across the aisle with Congressman Lieu toward a solution."