Oct 16 (Reuters) – Anthropic representatives have quietly pitched Capitol Hill lawmakers on a draft bill to regulate frontier AI safety and security, Politico reported on Friday, citing three people with knowledge of the efforts.
The bill would let the government block a model’s release or use only if it poses a foreseeable, imminent risk of more than $1 billion in damages, or of killing or seriously injuring more than 50 people, according to the report.
Here are some details:
• The risk must stem from the creation or release of a biological weapon, the model evading its developer’s controls or a cyberattack, Politico reported
• Anthropic and the Department of Commerce did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment
• Under the bill, independent evaluators, which would register with the Commerce Department, would be tasked with periodically evaluating the lab and its frontier models, according to the report
• The labs could pay these evaluators, provided the payment is not tied to the evaluation’s outcome, the report said
• If the evaluators determine there is “imminent enumerated risk” for a company’s frontier models, they must report it to Commerce within 72 hours of completing their assessment, Politico reported
• While the Commerce Department could request a judge to halt a model after determining risk, the language explicitly prohibits any other US government department, agency, or officer from suspending development, deployment, or internal use, according to the report
• A federal judge for the District Court for the District of Columbia could order the suspension of a model, the report said
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
