Anthropic pitches AI safety bill to lawmakers, Politico reports

Anthropic representatives have quietly pitched Capitol Hill lawmakers on a draft bill aimed at regulating frontier AI safety and security, according to a Politico report citing three sources familiar with the matter. The proposed legislation would permit the government to block a model's release or use only if it presents a foreseeable, imminent risk of more than $1 billion in damages or of causing death or serious injury to more than 50 people. The risks must be related to the creation or release of a biological weapon, the model evading its developer's controls, or a cyberattack. Independent evaluators, registered with the Commerce Department, would be tasked with assessing AI labs and their frontier models, with the possibility of being paid by the labs as long as the payment is not contingent on the evaluation's outcome. If evaluators identify an "imminent enumerated risk," they must report it to the Commerce Department within 72 hours. While the Commerce Department could seek a judge's order to halt a model, the bill explicitly prohibits other government departments or agencies from suspending development or deployment.