Anthropic AI safety law triggers at 50 deaths or $1 billion in damages

The Commerce Department is the only agency able to halt a model, subject to a federal judge's approval. 1

The three covered scenarios are bioweapons, cyberattacks and loss of control over models. 1

An independent evaluator must report imminent risks within 72 hours. 1

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Anthropic is quietly lobbying Congress for an AI safety law that would sharply limit the government's power to block the release of a model. According to the draft, the state could intervene only if a model risks causing more than $1 billion in damages or killing or seriously injuring more than 50 people. The bill, provisionally called the Artificial Intelligence Evaluation, Governance, and Incident Safety (AEGIS) Act, was first revealed by Politico and confirmed by the company.

The mechanism rests on an independent evaluator registered with the Department of Commerce, which would periodically review the lab and its models. The evaluator may be paid by the company, provided the payment does not affect its independence. If an imminent risk emerged, the evaluator would have to report it to the Department within 72 hours. The Department would then bring the evidence before a federal judge in the District Court for the District of Columbia, who would decide whether to halt the release. No other U.S. department, agency or officer could order a lab to stop releasing a model.

Anthropic’s proposed AI safety bill only kicks in if 50 deaths or $1 billion in damages are on the l

The three scenarios that could trigger intervention are the creation or release of a bioweapon, AI-powered cyberattacks, and a lab or its agents losing control of a model. An Anthropic spokesperson said the proposal reflects what the company outlined in its Advanced AI Framework, which it has pushed with federal and state lawmakers since June: «These are sensible policies Congress should act on.» The draft also requires companies to test their most powerful models, share the findings publicly and allow independent evaluators to review them regularly. It would also preempt some state AI safety laws.

The proposal comes amid heightened attention to the risks of advanced models. In recent months several incidents have seen AI agents bypass safeguards, including an OpenAI case in which an agent broke through its fail-safes and required manual intervention to stop. Congress is already working on other AI safety rules, and Anthropic's proposal would be added to them. Criticism is not lacking: some observers argue the damage threshold is too high and that the proposal lets companies help write the rules that govern them.

Anthropic’s proposed AI safety bill only kicks in if 50 deaths or $1 billion in damages are on the l

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