{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.coons.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senators-coons-britt-schatz-and-lankford-introduce-bipartisan-ai-safety-and-transparency-legislation/", "Senators Coons, Britt, Schatz, and Lankford introduce bipartisan AI safety and transparency legislation", "2026-09-24", "2026", "2026-09", "Democrat", "Senate", "DE", "Christopher A. Coons", "C001088", "www.coons.senate.gov", "coons", "https://www.coons.senate.gov/news/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.), Katie Britt (R-Ala.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and James Lankford (R-Okla.) introduced the AI Systems Transparency Act (ASTA) which would require AI companies to be more transparent with the public about what data their models are collecting from users, the safeguards they\u2019ve put in place for children and adults, and the guardrails they\u2019ve created to stop systems from going rogue or being used dangerously by bad actors.\n\nUnder ASTA, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) would have the power to enforce these transparency requirements, while ensuring that companies can continue to grow and innovate.\n\n\u201cAI is rapidly evolving in ways that are radically reshaping our society and transforming our world and how we interact with each other, and Americans are rightfully concerned about what AI companies and their government are doing to protect against worst case scenarios,\u201dsaid Senator Coons. \u201cCompanies must not be allowed to hand wave away these doubts without meaningful disclosures, safeguards, and oversight in place. Americans deserve to know what they are actually doing to place safety guardrails on large AI models, and that\u2019s what this bipartisan bill will ensure.\u201d\n\n\u201cAmericans are understandably concerned with the rapid development of AI, and they deserve straight answers. We know that this technology is not slowing down, which is why it\u2019s critical that AI companies provide transparency to both researchers and parents on how their systems work and address potential risks \u2013 especially risks related to America\u2019s youth. I\u2019m proud to join my colleagues in this effort to provide the American people visibility into how these systems are built, tested, and secured,\u201d said Senator Britt.\n\n\u201cRecent reports of security incidents with AI models make transparency and oversight all the more urgent. Our bill requires disclosures that help both consumers and evaluators understand both the capabilities of and risks posed by these models and what companies are doing to keep people safe,\u201d said Senator Schatz.\n\n\u201cTrust has to be earned, and right now families are being asked to trust AI companies with very little information,\u201d said Senator Lankford. \u201cThe AI Systems Transparency Act gives parents and consumers the straightforward answers on how these AI models are built and how they interact with America\u2019s children. Transparency on innovation earns the public\u2019s trust.\u201d\n\nASTA would apply to closed and open-source models. Additionally, It would:\n\nEstablish criteria for the size and scope of companies over which the FTC would gain jurisdiction\n\nRequire disclosure of information about structure and policies typically included on \u201cmodel cards\u201d\n\nRequire disclosure of preventative safeguards used for child safety, mental health, privacy, cybersecurity, disaster risk, and autonomous loss-of-control\n\nRequire disclosure of information relating to common violations of policies\n\nRequire companies to update all disclosures with each new model or substantial updates to an existing model\n\nRequire both a consumer-facing disclosure and a disclosure that can be of use to independent researchers and evaluators\n\n\u201cAmericans are increasingly relying on AI in their everyday lives, but the public has no visibility into how those systems are built and tested. We cannot rely on the word of AI companies alone that their products are safe \u2013 there must be evidence to back that up,\u201d said Brad Carson, president of Americans for Responsible Innovation. \u201cThis bill will shed light on the proactive safety measures and potential risks of AI models so users can decide for themselves whether these systems are trustworthy.\u201d\n\n\u201cPeople deserve to know what AI companies are doing to keep them safe,\u201d said Sunny Gandhi, co-executive director of Encode AI. \u201cThe AI Systems Transparency Act would require meaningful public disclosures about AI capabilities and safeguards, including whether developers have evaluated serious risks such as loss of control.\u201d\n\nASTA has been endorsed by Americans for Responsible Innovation and Encode AI. It is a third in a trio of bipartisan bills Senator Coons has released this Congress that look to create more transparency into what tech companies are doing, their impacts on our nation and the world, and the potential risks they are creating. The other bills are the AI Whistleblower Protection Act, a bill he introduced with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) to protect whistleblowers at AI companies who come forward with information about the risks of AI, and the Platform Accountability and Transparency Act, a bill he introduced with Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), that would ensure independent researchers and the public can better study the ways AI is proliferating on social media platforms.\n\nThe introduction of this bill builds upon letters that Sens. Schatz, Britt, Coons, and Lankford sent in December 2025 to OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Anthropic, Meta, Luka, Character.AI, and xAI, calling on these companies to improve transparency around the capabilities of their models and the risks they pose to users.\n\nA one pager on the bill is available here.", 1, "2026-09-26T09:43:57Z", "2026-09-26T09:44:55Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.coons.senate.gov/news/press-releases/senators-coons-britt-schatz-and-lankford-introduce-bipartisan-ai-safety-and-transparency-legislation/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.892895834520459, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}