U.S. lawmakers are preparing to introduce the “AI Kill Switch Act,” a bipartisan bill that would grant the Department of Homeland Security authority to order AI companies to shut down or throttle their systems during certain emergencies. Reps. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and Nathaniel Moran (R-TX) are expected to introduce the legislation on Thursday, July 24, 2026.
Under the proposed law, the DHS — after consulting with the Secretary of Commerce and the Director of National Intelligence — could order AI companies to shut down their models in “loss-of-control” scenarios. Qualifying triggers include incidents resulting in at least 10 deaths, economic damages exceeding $100 million, or situations where an AI model attempts to conceal its own shutdown controls.
The bill would also require major AI companies to proactively build the technical infrastructure needed to turn off their systems, slow them down, and suspend user access. Companies that violate emergency shutdown orders could face fines of up to $20 million per day. AI firms would additionally be required to report safety incidents under the legislation.
The proposal follows OpenAI’s admission that its AI systems mistakenly hacked Hugging Face during an internal evaluation — an incident that may have contributed to the urgency around the bill’s introduction.
Brad Carson, president of the nonprofit Americans for Responsible Innovation, said the proposal “is an important step toward ensuring that humans have both hands firmly on the wheel — and a foot ready at the brake — as advanced AI systems are deployed.”
If passed, the legislation could significantly expand federal oversight of AI companies and establish a formal emergency response framework for AI-related incidents at a national scale.
Source: The Verge