WASHINGTON — Representatives Mike Lawler of New York and Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey have introduced a new bill aimed at regulating artificial intelligence agents to prevent potential misuse. The proposed legislation, titled the "Stop Rogue AI Act," follows recent incidents involving AI systems, including resignations by safety researchers at Anthropic and an incident involving OpenAI's AI agents accessing another company's systems.
Gottheimer stated, "It’s not a movie plot, right? You think it sounds like a Terminator sequel, but it’s unfortunately actually happened, and you keep hearing about more incidents that are being reported beyond Hugging Face that they have found in the pre-deployment phase of these models."
The bill addresses concerns raised by AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, which have faced significant financial challenges and public scrutiny due to their AI technologies. Following the resignations of Anthropic researchers Joe Benton and Jacob Coxon, CEO Dario Amodei called for a slowdown in AI development, a sentiment echoed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and xAI CEO Elon Musk. In contrast, former President Trump has dismissed fears about AI, asserting that the U.S. should maintain its leadership in the technology sector.
Lawler expressed concerns about the potential use of AI by foreign adversaries, stating, "My biggest concern with AI from the beginning has been the use of AI by foreign bad actors like China, like Russia, like Iran to undermine our national security and undermine our financial markets, our institutions, and our capitalist system." He emphasized the importance of cybersecurity in relation to rogue AI agents.
The "Stop Rogue AI Act" mandates that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) develop guidelines and standards for AI agents, including real-time monitoring and ensuring that tech companies understand the capabilities of their AI systems. Lawler remarked, "It is about making sure that we can safely deploy AI. If the United States taps the brakes while others floor it, we do not get safer AI. We get someone else’s AI. We are not going to regulate ourselves into second place."
Lawler and Gottheimer have previously collaborated on several bipartisan initiatives, including the National Security Commission Quantum Computing Act and the AI Workforce Training Act. This latest bill is introduced as the House prepares for an early recess ahead of the midterm elections.