{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hagerty.senate.gov/press-releases/2026/08/05/hagerty-colleagues-introduce-the-blocking-large-scale-adversarial-distillation-efforts-blade-act/", "Hagerty, Colleagues Introduce the Blocking Large-Scale Adversarial Distillation Efforts (BLADE) Act", "2026-08-05", "2026", "2026-08", "Republican", "Senate", "TN", "Bill Hagerty", "H000601", "www.hagerty.senate.gov", "hagerty", "https://www.hagerty.senate.gov/press-releases/", "scraper", "The unauthorized use of American AI models by foreign adversaries is a threat to both economic and national security\n\nWASHINGTON\u2014Today, Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), along with Senate Banking Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC), Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Subcommittee on National Security and International Trade and Finance, and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), introduced the Blocking Large-Scale Adversarial Distillation Efforts (BLADE) Act of 2026, a bipartisan bill to deter malign foreign actors from stealing the proprietary capabilities of America\u2019s frontier AI companies.\n\nRecent news reports have detailed the large-scale use of \u201cmodel extraction attacks\u201d by Chinese entities to distill the unique competitive advantages of America\u2019s top AI models. Such foreign model extraction attacks\u2014which typically circumvent technical controls, use fraudulent or unauthorized credentials, and violate terms of use in order to harvest proprietary capabilities from U.S. models without the owner\u2019s permission\u2014evade U.S. export controls and threaten U.S. economic security and national security.\n\nTo deter unauthorized and illicit foreign model extraction attacks, the BLADE Act would direct the Executive Branch to identify and publicly expose foreign entities behind these malign activities, coordinate with industry to improve detection, and authorize the imposition of Commerce Department export controls and Treasury Department financial sanctions against these foreign entities.\n\n\u201cAs the United States must remain at the forefront of competitiveness in artificial intelligence, we cannot allow our adversaries to steal the intellectual property of America\u2019s top AI companies and thereby threaten U.S. national security and economic security,\u201d said Hagerty. \u201cThe BLADE Act will expose and punish foreign entities that conduct hostile distillation campaigns against our frontier AI companies. Our nation must counter malign actors who seek to subvert our nation\u2019s leadership and innovation in artificial intelligence.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe BLADE Act safeguards both our competitive edge against China and our national security at the same time. As we continue to set the global standard for innovation and unlock new opportunity through AI, it\u2019s critical we have these tools to deter direct attacks on U.S. AI models and maintain as large a lead as possible over our competitors and adversaries,\u201d said Kim.\n\n\u201cFrom startups in South Carolina to companies across the country, American innovators are building the technologies that will shape the future, and the Chinese Communist Party and other foreign adversaries should not be allowed to steal that work. Industrial-scale distillation attacks are unacceptable, and the BLADE Act gives the Commerce Department the tools to expose and punish bad actors targeting American AI models, protect our national security, and keep America ahead in the global AI race. I\u2019m proud to join Senators Hagerty and Kim in defending American ingenuity and holding our adversaries accountable,\u201d said Scott.\n\n\u201cAs America\u2019s AI technologies become more advanced, we face new threats from China and other foreign adversaries trying to reproduce them,\u201d said Cortez Masto. \u201cWe cannot allow the Chinese Communist Party to steal our companies\u2019 hard work and innovation. America can and will remain dominant in the race to develop cutting-edge AI technologies.\u201d\n\nFind the full text of the bill here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-06T07:37:31Z", "2026-08-06T07:38:34Z"]], "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.hagerty.senate.gov/press-releases/2026/08/05/hagerty-colleagues-introduce-the-blocking-large-scale-adversarial-distillation-efforts-blade-act/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5377600211650133, "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"}