Anthropic's draft AI safety bill would let a judge halt a model that poses imminent risk of 50+ deaths or $1 billion in damage

Anthropic has been circulating its own draft federal AI safety bill among lawmakers, POLITICO reported, and the company confirmed the draft. POLITICO followed up on 21 October 2026 with a look at why the text sets its damage threshold at $1 billion.

Key provisions (as reported)

• A model’s release could be blocked only in the case of a “foreseeable, imminent risk” of more than 50 deaths or serious injuries or more than $1 billion in property damage.
• That risk must stem from a biological weapon, a cyberattack, or the model evading its developer’s controls.
• Assessments would come from independent evaluators registered with the US Commerce Department. They could be paid by the AI labs, provided payment is not contingent on the results, according to POLITICO.
• If evaluators find an imminent catastrophic risk, they would have 72 hours to alert Commerce, which would then have to ask a federal judge in Washington, D.C. to halt the release. No federal agency could stop a model on its own.

Context

TechCrunch noted that the 50-death and $1 billion figures resemble the definition of “catastrophic risk” in California’s recently enacted Senate Bill 53. An Anthropic spokesperson told POLITICO the bill reflects the company’s Advanced AI Framework, which it says it has promoted with federal and state lawmakers since June.