Lawmakers call for a ‘kill switch’ after rogue AI causes alarm
U.S. lawmakers are preparing to introduce a bill that will give the government the ability to trigger an emergency shutdown of artificial intelligence models that may cause harm to the public.
In what might sound like it’s veering too close to Hollywood science fiction, the news comes two days after OpenAI Group PBC admitted that while it was testing a new model that could function without human command, it broke out of its controlled environment. It found vulnerabilities and subsequently hacked the open-source AI platform Hugging Face Inc.
The incident was a first-of-its-kind, what Hugging Face Chief Executive Clément Delangue called “unprecedented,” adding that it was “mind-blowing that all of this happened autonomously.”
Considering the national security implications and the broader risks to the public as AI systems become more embedded in everyday life, President Donald Trump’s top technology adviser, Michael Kratsios, assured the public the administration was closely monitoring the situation. In response, U.S. lawmakers proposed a federal “kill switch” that would allow authorities to completely shut down an agentic AI model that had demonstrably gone rogue.
Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat, and Republican Rep. Nathaniel Moran introduced the “AI Kill Switch Act.” It will give the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Secretary of Commerce and the Director of National Intelligence, the ability to turn off the wayward machine when it’s believed it might cause “catastrophic harm.”
“As a computer science major, I am very aware of the dramatic possibilities – both good and bad – that AI presents,” said Lieu. “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. Unfortunately, powerful AI systems can go rogue, behave in extremely dangerous ways, or even resist human intervention.”
The act will require that when developers build an agentic model they will build into it a function that will allow for it to be throttled, suspended or fully turned off. If an incident does occur, the company which built the technology must preserve forensic records to learn in real time why the incident occurred.
Though AI safety advocates have applauded the Kill Switch bill in what some of have is “commonsense,” a more cynical outlook regarding the event have led some commentators to venture there may be a “competitive element” to the incident. They note that Open AI may be seeking to highlight its technological capabilities as its main rival, Anthropic PBC gains attention for its mysterious Claude Mythos model.
Photo: Unsplash
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