US lawmaker proposes nuclear-style federal AI agency with kill switches and criminal penalties
ShakeelHashim · x · 2026-09-10
- Rep. Ro Khanna urged Congress to pass AI regulation before recess, laying out five concrete measures:
- Create a federal AI oversight agency modeled on nuclear power and aviation regulators
- Require pre-certification for containment, including kill switches and human approval for model self-rewrites
- Impose liability and mandatory insurance for agentic AI operating on the open internet
- Criminal penalties for releasing uncertified models
- Oversight hearings with researchers plus whistleblower protections for AI engineers
He cited Anthropic's alignment lead's 10% extinction-risk estimate and researcher Jacob Coxon's warning that AI companies are "gambling with our lives," pressing Speaker Mike Johnson to act.
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