Anthropic Secretly Floats An AI Kill Switch Law And Inadvertently Ignites Heated Controversy

In today’s column, I examine the latest AI brouhaha over a newly leaked draft proposed law that Anthropic reportedly floated to federal lawmakers about instituting an industry-wide AI kill switch regulatory requirement. This draft was apparently privately pitched to carefully chosen members on Capitol Hill.

In one sense, this shouldn’t be especially newsworthy because all sorts of AI kill switch drafts are being bandied around. The AI kill switch topic has become a favorite call-to-arms now that we’ve experienced a spate of AI agents that went awry (see my coverage at the link here). The belief is that if the government had an AI kill switch, or at least the prerogative to invoke one, this would protect society from AI that goes out of bounds. I’ve previously noted that this is a dreamy vision and not rooted in reality; see my analysis at the link here. In any case, Anthropic seemingly got caught with its hand in the cookie jar by its quiet entreaties, and the otherwise non-story erupted into a headline-grabbing story. Part of the eyebrow-raising relates to the proposed stipulations, which I’ll walk you through step-by-step.

Let’s talk about it. This analysis of AI breakthroughs is part of my ongoing Forbes column coverage on the latest in AI, including identifying and explaining various impactful AI complexities (see the link here).

AI Kill Switch Keeps Coming Up

Significant interest in devising AI kill switches has been around since the beginning of AI. I’m sure you’ve read fictional tales of AI that diabolically aim to enslave humans or wipe us from the planet. In fact, during the real-world mania last year about artificial general intelligence (AGI) and artificial superintelligence (ASI), everyone was stressed out about the probability of doom, known as p(doom), and the existential risks of AI; see my in-depth coverage at the link here.