HR 9917
AI Kill Switch Act
TL;DR
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) introduced the AI Kill Switch Act, which would require operators of advanced AI systems to build in emergency shutdown capabilities that the federal government could trigger if the AI poses a threat to national security or public safety. It's currently sitting in the House Homeland Security Committee with no companion Senate bill yet.
How This Might Impact Your Business
Developers of large-scale or frontier AI models (think foundation model builders like those training GPT-class systems) would need to engineer government-accessible shutdown mechanisms into their products.
Cloud providers hosting powerful AI workloads (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) would likely inherit compliance obligations for models running on their infrastructure.
Defense contractors and federal AI vendors face the most immediate exposure since Homeland Security jurisdiction signals national security framing.
Smaller companies fine-tuning or deploying existing models are probably out of scope, but that depends on final compute or capability thresholds, which aren't defined yet in the current draft.
No specific penalty structure or dollar amounts are attached at the committee stage, but expect civil penalties and potential loss of federal contracts if the bill advances.
Timeline is early: referred to committee with no hearing scheduled, meaning any compliance deadlines are likely 18+ months away even in an aggressive scenario.
Enterprises using AI in critical infrastructure (energy, finance, healthcare) should watch for downstream obligations if their vendors are forced to add kill switches that could disrupt operations.
What Should You Do
Ask your AI vendors (especially foundation model providers) whether they're tracking this bill and how a kill switch requirement would affect service continuity for your business.
Have your legal or policy team monitor the House Homeland Security Committee calendar for hearings or markup on HR 9917.
If you operate in critical infrastructure, map which AI systems you rely on that could be subject to remote shutdown, and build contingency plans for sudden unavailability.
Document your current AI system dependencies now so you can quickly assess exposure if the bill gains traction or a Senate companion emerges.
Engage industry trade associations (Chamber of Commerce, BSA, ITI) if you want to influence how 'covered AI systems' get defined in any revised text.
Who It Affects
Sponsors
Status Timeline
committee
Referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security.
July 23, 2026