“A bill to establish legal standards for advanced artificial intelligence products.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section cites the Act as the “Aligning Incentives for Leadership, Excellence, and Advancement in Development Act” or the “AI LEAD Act” and sets forth the table of contents.
This section declares congressional findings that artificial intelligence (AI) systems shift decision-making from humans, have caused harms (e.g., deaths of multiple teenagers exploited by AI chatbots), create unpredictable liability that jeopardizes public safety and small businesses, and warrant a federal products liability framework to incentivize safety, promote innovation and U.S. competitiveness, remove interstate commerce barriers, and protect due process rights without implicating expressive speech.
This section establishes definitions for terms used in the Act, including (1) artificial intelligence system, meaning software, data systems, or tools using machine learning or similar methods to make predictions, recommendations, or decisions; (2) covered product, meaning an artificial intelligence system; (3) deployer, meaning a person using or operating a covered product for personal, commercial, or third-party use; (4) developer, meaning a person who designs, codes, produces, owns, or substantially modifies a covered product; (5) design, encompassing intended characteristics, training data selection, and processes like training or auditing; (6) substantial modification, meaning a deliberate, unauthorized change by a deployer altering the product's purpose, function, or use (excluding risk-mitigating changes); (7) harm, including property damage, physical injury or death, financial or reputational injury, emotional distress, or derivative losses; (8) liability action, meaning a civil action for harm caused by a covered product; (9) claimant, meaning any person bringing a liability action; and (10) other terms such as express warranty, person, and under a legal disability (i.e., lacking capacity due to mental illness, intellectual disability, or age under 18).
This section establishes developer liability standards in actions for harm to businesses or consumers from covered products, requiring claimants to prove by a preponderance of the evidence one of four grounds: (1) negligent design that proximately caused the harm; (2) negligent instructions or warnings that proximately caused the harm; (3) breach of an express warranty that proximately caused the harm; or (4) strict liability for a defective condition that was unreasonably dangerous in reasonably foreseeable use or misuse and proximately caused the harm. For design defect claims under (a)(1), this section requires claimants to prove a reasonable alternative design was feasible at sale or distribution that would have reduced foreseeable risks, unless the design is manifestly unreasonable; permits circumstantial evidence of defect if the harm type ordinarily results from product defects and not other causes; deems noncompliance with applicable safety statutes or regulations a defect as to addressed risks; and allows courts to consider regulatory compliance as evidence but not conclusive against defect. For failure-to-warn claims under (a)(2), this section deems warnings inadequate if reasonable ones could have reduced foreseeable risks and their omission rendered the product not reasonably safe, based on risks a developer knew or should have foreseen; defines adequate warnings as those a prudent person would provide to ordinary users; excuses liability for open and obvious risks (with a presumption against obviousness for users under 18 years old); and applies parallel rules deeming noncompliance with safety statutes or regulations a warning defect while allowing courts to consider compliance as non-conclusive evidence.
This section establishes deployer liability for harm caused by a covered product, deeming a deployer liable as a developer under section 101 if (1) the deployer makes a substantial modification to the covered product or (2) the deployer intentionally misuses the covered product contrary to its intended use and that misuse is the proximate cause of the harm. It specifies that a use intended by the developer does not constitute a substantial modification or misuse, with intended use inferred from the targeted market and manner of distribution if not otherwise specified by the developer. The section further provides that, subject to section 302, a deployer licensing a covered product is not liable under section 101 solely by reason of ownership or use of the product.
This section prohibits (1) developers from including in contracts with deployers language that waives rights, proscribes forums or procedures, or unreasonably limits liability under this Act or state law for harm caused by a covered product under section 101; and (2) developers or deployers from including such language in terms and conditions relevant to a covered product for harm under section 101 or 102. Language violating these prohibitions is unenforceable.
This section establishes a federal cause of action authorizing the Attorney General, a state attorney general, an individual (or the individual's legal representative), or a class of individuals to bring a civil action in U.S. district court against a developer or deployer for violations of §§101, 102, or 201. Available remedies include (1) injunctive relief; (2) civil penalties, in cases brought by the Attorney General; (3) damages, restitution, or other compensation on behalf of individuals; (4) reasonable attorney fees and other litigation costs; and (5) other relief as appropriate, in cases brought by the Attorney General or a state attorney general.
This section establishes special liability rules for deployers in relation to developers under sections 101 and 102, including: (1) permitting courts to hold deployers liable to the same extent as developers under section 101 if the developer lacks court jurisdiction, is insolvent, or cannot otherwise answer for harm; (2) requiring dismissal of deployers, upon motion, if the developer is a party to the action, subject to the court's jurisdiction, able to satisfy likely judgments, and the deployer is not liable under section 102; (3) imposing joint and several liability on developers and deployers for harm each causes if both contribute under sections 101 and 102; (4) authorizing deployers held liable under (1) to seek indemnification—including attorney fees and costs—from developers, limited to developer-attributable portions if the deployer is also at fault under (3); and (5) preserving claimants' rights to sue developers, deployers, or both if each contributed to the harm under sections 101 and 102.
This section establishes a four-year statute of limitations for liability actions, beginning on the date the claimant discovered or, with reasonable care, should have discovered both the harm and its cause. The limitations period is tolled (1) for persons under a legal disability until the disability ends and (2) from the filing of a complaint against a developer or deployer until the court enters final judgment.
This section limits preemption of state law to provisions that conflict with this Act and permits states to enact or enforce stronger protections for covered products that align with the principles of harm prevention, accountability, and transparency.
This section provides a severability clause stating that if any provision of the Act or an amendment made by the Act is held invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions of the Act and its amendments remain in effect.
This section requires a foreign developer of a covered product to designate a permanent resident of the United States as an agent for service of process with the Attorney General—via a written submission including the agent's acceptance and contact information for both parties—before making the product available in the United States. The section further requires the foreign developer to notify the Attorney General of any changes to the agent or contact information within 15 days.
This section prohibits a foreign developer of a covered product that fails to designate an agent in accordance with section 401 from deploying any covered product in the United States and authorizes the Attorney General to seek injunctive relief to prevent such violations.
This section provides that the Act applies to any liability action commenced on or after the date of enactment, without regard to whether the harm that is the subject of the action or the conduct that caused the harm occurred before that date.