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US State Policy

6 items across 4 editions · appeared in the last 2 editions in a row. First seen Fri 11 Sep, last seen Tue 15 Sep. Traced across 1 weekly review.

How this story has evolved

From the week in review: the connections, developments and open questions filed under US State Policy, newest week first.

Week of 7–13 September 2026

Connection

Third-party verification was proposed, legislated and declined in the same week

All three developments concern the same object: an outside party with the access to check a frontier model. On 9 September Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 813 and AB 1405, which his office describes as a framework for "independent verification organizations" and "a state registry for AI auditors". On the same day, Reuters reported, OpenAI urged Congress to adopt "capability-based national AI safety requirements, including testing standards, independent assessments, cybersecurity protections and incident-reporting rules for the most advanced AI systems". On 12 September Amodei's essay committed Anthropic to embedded evaluators with "Desks in our offices, access badges, and company laptops".

Development · Fri 11 Sep, Sun 13 Sep

Senate negotiators draft an AI duty of care as Speaker Johnson rules out an emergency session and the House prepares to leave until November

Reuters reported on 11 September that Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz and Sen. Amy Klobuchar are negotiating a measure under which "Companies would need to design their products with the goal of preventing 'catastrophic risks'". "Negotiators aim to give the U.S. government the power to block the release of certain AI models that are deemed unsafe", with decisions challengeable in federal court, and part of the measure "would also block states from enforcing their own laws governing certain risks posed by AI models".

Development · Wed 9 Sep, Thu 10 Sep

Newsom signs a first-in-the-nation framework for independent AI auditors, plus 13 child-safety bills including a companion-chatbot law

On 9 September Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 813, authored by Sen. Jerry McNerney, which the governor's office says "establishes a first-in-the-nation framework for independent verification organizations that can assess AI systems and models for compliance with state law", and AB 1405, authored by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, creating "a state registry for AI auditors and establishing standards for their independence, transparency, and integrity".

Open question

Will Congress pass any AI measure before the midterm elections, or will the state and agency changes stand alone?

Reuters reported the Senate duty-of-care measure was still being negotiated on 11 September, with no published text and the structure of the government's blocking power still in dispute. Speaker Johnson ruled out an emergency session on 13 September. Reuters notes the House "is scheduled to be in session for only one week before the Nov. 3 midterm elections". California's new auditor framework has no published effective date.

Tuesday, 15 September 2026

Manhattan DA seizes 12 domains selling AI deepfake pornography of about 1,200 people beneficial

Manhattan District Attorney·amNewYork

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office announced on 14 September that it seized 12 domain names, tied to five online vendors and involving approximately 1,200 victims, in what it calls the largest known seizure of AI-generated celebrity deepfake websites to date. The seizures were carried out pursuant to a court order.
The office says the victims were overwhelmingly women and primarily public-facing individuals, including actors, politicians, athletes, musicians, social justice advocates and social media influencers.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg is quoted saying "1,200 individuals had their faces and bodies stolen and turned into illegal pornography on 12 different websites – without their knowledge or consent".
The release does not name the vendors, does not say whether anyone has been charged, and does not specify which statutes were used; it directs the investigation to the office's Cyber Crime Bureau.

Deepfakes US State Policy Incidents

Monday, 14 September 2026

UK Joint Committee on Human Rights calls for a dedicated AI bill and a statutory AI regulator Update

IT Pro·BBC (via Yahoo News)

In a report published on 14 September, Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights called for a new bill on AI to "address the scale and seriousness" of the threats it identifies, saying the current legal framework is "fragmented and difficult to navigate".
The committee's chair, Labour MP Alex Sobel, said: "Nowhere in the world, including the UK, has a current legislative and regulatory approach to AI that is fit for purpose."
IT Pro lists the recommendations: a single independent statutory AI oversight body able to set codes of practice, enforce transparency and impose sanctions; a distinction between low-risk and high-risk systems; outright bans on some uses including subliminal techniques and inappropriate biometric profiling; due diligence across the AI supply chain; and clarification of data protection law on automated decision-making. The report notes the AI Security Institute operates voluntarily, without statutory power to test or block a risky release.
This is a select-committee recommendation, not law. The BBC reports Education Minister Georgia Gould pointed to existing government action on non-consensual deepfakes, cyber security legislation and the AI Security Institute; no dedicated AI bill has been introduced, and the government is not obliged to accept the recommendations.

UK US State Policy Deepfakes Privacy

Saturday, 12 September 2026

Senate negotiators draft an AI "duty of care" that would let the government block unsafe model releases and preempt state law

Reuters (via The Spokesman-Review)·Nextgov/FCW

Reuters reported on 11 September, updated 6:10 p.m., that Senate negotiators are considering legislation creating a duty of care requiring AI companies to "design their products with the goal of preventing 'catastrophic risks'", with the federal government able to block release of models deemed unsafe and companies able to challenge that in federal court.
The measure would also "block states from enforcing their own laws governing certain risks posed by AI models" — federal preemption that would cut across the state statutes signed this month, including California's package of chatbot child-safety bills.
Nextgov reported at 4:49 p.m. ET that the negotiators are split on who does the testing: the Cruz–Klobuchar–Thune approach has companies run their own safety tests and submit results to the Commerce Secretary for deployment approval, which a Democratic aide characterised as "primarily a voluntary standard type situation", while Senator Maria Cantwell wants models tested by "scientists and experts at our national laboratories".
Nothing has been introduced, and a Commerce markup planned before the August recess was cancelled. Reuters notes the House is in session for one week before the 3 November midterms and the Senate for three, so the calendar is the binding constraint rather than the drafting.

The push to regulate frontier AI (US)US Federal Policy US State Policy Bio Risk Evals

New Mexico Supreme Court fines a lawyer $5,000 for a murder-appeal brief with ChatGPT-fabricated witness testimony harmful

Reuters (via GV Wire)

Reuters reported on 11 September that the New Mexico Supreme Court fined attorney Stephen Aarons $5,000, held him in contempt and referred him to an attorney disciplinary board, over a brief the court said "contained false testimony from wholly fabricated witnesses", including "fictional statements that the shooter was wearing dark pants and a white shirt".
Aarons told the court he had fed ChatGPT a computer-generated transcript and case materials expecting it would produce "a bulletproof summary", and said afterwards "I am remorseful but hopeful that the disciplinary board takes into account it was an honest mistake".
At an August 21 hearing Justice C. Shannon Bacon pressed him on the claim that he did not know the limits of the tools, asking: "Counsel, do you watch the news? Do you listen to the radio? Do you read anything about what's going on in the world?"
The underlying matter is the appeal of Oscar Renee Sandoval, who is serving a life sentence for murder. The report does not say what happens to the appeal itself.

OpenAI US State Policy Incidents

Friday, 11 September 2026

Newsom signs 13 child-safety bills including SB 1119 "Adam's Law", mandating crisis protocols and independent audits for companion chatbots beneficial

Office of the Governor of California

On 10 September California enacted thirteen bills. SB 1119 (Padilla, with Wicks and Bauer-Kahan), known as Adam's Law after Adam Raine, requires companion chatbot operators to maintain crisis protocols for suicidal ideation, provide parental controls, commission independent child-safety audits and conduct annual risk assessments.
The package extends beyond chatbots: AB 1709 (Lowenthal) restricts platform features for minors and creates an e-Safety Advisory Commission; SB 867 (Padilla) regulates companion chatbot toys; SB 1276 (Rubio) expands child sexual exploitation offences to cover AI-generated and AI-altered material; and AB 1856 (Wicks) requires age-verification signals from software applications. Civil penalties of up to $250,000 per action apply to third parties facilitating distribution of deepfake pornography.
This is the most detailed operational mandate yet placed on conversational AI products in the US — auditing and risk assessment obligations rather than disclosure alone — and California's market size makes it a de facto national floor.
The Governor's announcement does not state effective dates or compliance deadlines for the individual bills, and does not specify which regulator enforces the chatbot audit requirement.

The push to regulate frontier AI (US)US State Policy Child Safety Deepfakes Privacy

Michigan township residents confront officials over a $1.2bn AI data center tied to Los Alamos nuclear stockpile modelling mixed

404 Media

At a 10 September town hall in Ypsilanti Township, Michigan, residents confronted officials over a proposed 220,000-square-foot, $1.2 billion hyperscale data centre being developed by the University of Michigan with Los Alamos National Laboratory. 404 Media compares its profile to OpenAI's 1.4-gigawatt Barn project in nearby Saline Township.
Los Alamos acknowledged the facility would support computational research related to nuclear modernisation — modelling and simulation to assess the safety and reliability of the US nuclear stockpile — while denying that weapons production, testing or plutonium storage would take place on site.
Township supervisor Brenda Stumbo said "it started with a lie" and reported residents selling homes; township attorney Douglas Winters described the site as a "high-value target." A data centre worker at the meeting said the facility ranks "at the very top" against average US sites and that such facilities "don't belong in residential areas next to schools."
This is the AI buildout's siting politics arriving at a specific address, with a national-security workload attached. No power draw, water use or construction timeline figures were published, and the project's approval status is not stated.

Datacenters Energy Incidents US State Policy Military