Companies must build off switches for advanced AI systems.
S. 5417 — AI Emergency Button Act · Filed by John Kennedy (R-LA) · Introduced Sep 16, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
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What it does
This bill requires companies to build off switches for advanced AI. The switches let a person turn the system off. The Department of Homeland Security has 90 days to write rules. The rules will explain how companies must follow this law.
Who it affects
Companies that develop or run advanced AI systems must follow the rules. People who use AI systems may have more control.
One thing to notice
The bill does not say what 'off' means exactly. The rules from the Department of Homeland Security will decide those details.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Sep 16, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Sep 16, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- advanced AI — computer programs that learn and make decisions in complex ways.
- off switches — a way for a person to turn off an AI system.
- Department of Homeland Security — the federal agency that protects the country from threats and emergencies.
- rules — official instructions that say what companies must do.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,028 characters) on Oct 1, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Companies must build off switches for advanced AI systems.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s5417/simple Report an error
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