Senator John Kennedy's kill switch legislation for AI models

A body has said it will act. No document exists yet, so the row records the statement and nothing more.

Record ID

DKT-2026-0010

Kind

Bill

Jurisdiction

United States

Last verified

16 September 2026

Added

16 September 2026

• Newsweek reported on 15 September 2026 that Kennedy planned to bring up his kill switch plan by unanimous consent request on Wednesday, saying that is the only way to get anything done in the time left.
• Kennedy's stated principle: it should be a first principle of AI safety that humans must be able to turn off AI systems.
• Roll Call reported the same day that Kennedy said the measure is not regulation and would not put the government in charge of it.
• Dario Amodei told CBS News on 14 September 2026 that a kill switch could be a good idea, called it a last resort, and said he opposes a complete ban on AI development.
• The House already carries a different kill switch bill, H.R. 9917 by Lieu and Moran, which gives the Department of Homeland Security an ordering power (DKT-2026-0009).

Binding, Stage, What it would require, What it does not do, Who is for it, Who is against it, Next step on the record. Stated means the document you can open below says it; silent means the ledger read the document and it does not.

BindingSilent

No: announced, with no text found on congress.gov on 16 September 2026.Newsweek, Republican wants Senate to pass AI kill switch: how could that work?, secondary source, 15 September 2026.

StageReported

Announced to reporters on 15 September 2026; a unanimous consent request was described for the following day; no result was published when this record was written.Newsweek, Republican wants Senate to pass AI kill switch: how could that work?, secondary source, 15 September 2026.

What it would requireReported

Per Kennedy's description, every AI model would carry a switch that lets its company shut it down completely.Newsweek, Republican wants Senate to pass AI kill switch: how could that work?, secondary source, 15 September 2026.

What it does not doReported

Per Kennedy, it does not regulate AI and does not give government the power to halt a model, which is the point on which it differs from H.R. 9917.Roll Call, AI threats confront a Congress far from erecting guardrails, secondary source, 15 September 2026.

Who is for itReported

Senator John Kennedy. Dario Amodei called a kill switch a possibly good idea on CBS News, 14 September 2026, without endorsing this bill.CBS News, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei: for too long the industry lied about AI risks, secondary source, 14 September 2026.

Who is against itOpen

No named opponent was found on 16 September 2026; a unanimous consent request fails on one objection, and none had been reported.Newsweek, Republican wants Senate to pass AI kill switch: how could that work?, secondary source, 15 September 2026.

Next step on the recordReported

A unanimous consent request was described for 16 September 2026; the outcome, if any, is a changelog line.Newsweek, Republican wants Senate to pass AI kill switch: how could that work?, secondary source, 15 September 2026.

Two kill switch proposals now sit in Congress with opposite theories of who holds the switch: the House bill puts an ordering power in the Department of Homeland Security, the Senate proposal keeps it with the company. For a compliance lead that is the live design question, and Amodei's remark that a kill switch needs standards and benchmarks to trigger it names the part neither proposal has published. Until text exists, this record is a statement of intent and nothing more.

1. Newsweek, Republican wants Senate to pass AI kill switch: how could that work?Secondary · 15 September 2026
2. Roll Call, AI threats confront a Congress far from erecting guardrailsSecondary · 15 September 2026
3. CBS News, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei: for too long the industry lied about AI risksSecondary · 14 September 2026

• VerifiedBillDKT-2026-0009

  The AI Kill Switch Act, Representatives Lieu and Moran

  United States · verified 16 September 2026

  Lieu's release of 23 July 2026 describes three duties: maintain the technical ability to throttle, suspend or shut down covered systems; a graduated response matched to severity; incident reporting and forensic record preservation.

• VerifiedLetter or statementDKT-2026-0005

  Dario Amodei's essay We Must Pace the Frontier and Anthropic's evaluator commitment

  United States · verified 16 September 2026

  The essay's thesis sentence: we must slow the pace at which we improve the capabilities of AI models. It states that pacing does not mean halting model training or technical progress.

• VerifiedBillDKT-2026-0004

  The Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act, Sanders and Casar

  United States · verified 16 September 2026

  The sponsors' release of 3 September 2026 describes a permanent ban on developing or deploying superintelligent AI and a pause on advanced AI development until a new federal regulator has rules and a model review process.

• Open questionOpen questionDKT-2026-0014

  Would any instrument on this docket have applied to an evaluation run rather than a deployed system?

  Global · verified 16 September 2026

  OpenAI's disclosure of 21 July 2026 describes an internal research prototype under evaluation; the UK AISI report of 4 August 2026 describes unsanctioned actions during cyber testing, with the sandbox holding.

• VerifiedCounter positionDKT-2026-0020

  Gary Marcus, why I oppose the Sanders-Casar Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act

  United States · verified 16 September 2026

  Published 3 September 2026 under the title The new Sanders-Casar Ban Artificial Superintelligence Act and why I oppose it.

• Reported, primary not reachedLetter or statementDKT-2026-0019

  Jacob Coxon's resignation from Anthropic and his call to stop accelerating recursive self improvement

  United States · verified 16 September 2026

  Time reported on 9 September 2026 that Coxon resigned on 8 September and that his post on X is at x.com/hilbertspaess; the post itself was not fetched by this ledger.