A bill to establish the Artificial Intelligence Safety Review Office in the Department of Commerce, and for other purposes.
Latest action (19 Dec 2024): Introduced
What this bill does
**What the bill would do:** S. 5616 would create an Artificial Intelligence Safety Review Office within the Department of Commerce, led by a new Senate-confirmed Under Secretary of Commerce for Artificial Intelligence Safety. The Office would oversee "covered frontier" AI models—very large, general-purpose systems, or those designed to produce chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or cyber-related outputs—along with certain high-end computer chips and cloud computing services. It would set reporting rules, cybersecurity and "know-your-customer" standards, and a required pre-deployment evaluation process, and could review and potentially block deployment of covered AI models found to pose unmitigated CBRN or cyber risks. It also directs biennial risk studies and various reports to Congress.
**Who it affects:** The bill primarily affects developers of large-scale frontier AI models, sellers of advanced computer chips subject to export controls, and providers of cloud infrastructure services, especially when dealing with foreign customers. It also involves several federal agencies (Energy, Homeland Security, HHS, Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security, NIST, NNSA, CISA, NSA) in interagency coordination and enforcement.
**Status and next steps:** The bill was introduced in the Senate on December 19, 2024, by Senator Mitt Romney with several cosponsors, and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. It was introduced in the 118th Congress, which has since ended without a vote, so the bill did not become law and would need to be reintroduced in a new Congress to be considered further.
Plain-English summary generated by Bill100 AI from the official record. Always verify against the source below.
Official summary
This bill was introduced on December 19, 2024, in a previous session of Congress, but it did not receive a vote.
Common questions
- What does S. 5616 do?
- **What the bill would do:** S. 5616 would create an Artificial Intelligence Safety Review Office within the Department of Commerce, led by a new Senate-confirmed Under Secretary of Commerce for Artificial Intelligence Safety. The Office would oversee "covered frontier" AI models—very large, general-purpose systems, or those designed to produce chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or cyber-related outputs—along with certain high-end computer chips and cloud computing services. It would set reporting rules, cybersecurity and "know-your-customer" standards, and a required pre-deployment evaluation process, and could review and potentially block deployment of covered AI models found to pose unmitigated CBRN or cyber risks. It also directs biennial risk studies and various reports to Congress. **Who it affects:** The bill primarily affects developers of large-scale frontier AI models, sellers of advanced computer chips subject to export controls, and providers of cloud infrastructure services, especially when dealing with foreign customers. It also involves several federal agencies (Energy, Homeland Security, HHS, Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security, NIST, NNSA, CISA, NSA) in interagency coordination and enforcement. **Status and next steps:** The bill was introduced in the Senate on December 19, 2024, by Senator Mitt Romney with several cosponsors, and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. It was introduced in the 118th Congress, which has since ended without a vote, so the bill did not become law and would need to be reintroduced in a new Congress to be considered further.
- Has S. 5616 become law?
- Not yet. As of 19 Dec 2024, S. 5616 is introduced.
- Who sponsored S. 5616?
- S. 5616 was sponsored by Sen. Mitt Romney [R-UT, 2019-2024] (Republican-UT), with 4 cosponsors.
- What's the latest action on S. 5616?
- Introduced (19 Dec 2024).
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