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119-hr-9279119th Congress

Preventing AI Censorship Act

Sponsored By: Representative Hageman, Harriet M. [R-WY-At Large]

Introduced

Summary

Creates a private civil right to sue federal employees for AI-related First Amendment violations. It targets federal attempts to coerce AI systems or AI providers to suppress speech or to collect user prompts for surveillance.

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  • Individuals and AI users can bring lawsuits when a federal employee coerces or directs an AI provider or system to ban, suppress, remove, alter, or otherwise restrict content based on viewpoint, political affiliation, religion, ideology, or perceived truth.
  • AI providers are protected from federal pressure to change training data, model weights, fine-tuning, prompts, safety classifiers, or access quality for the purpose of filtering or suppressing expression, and from being used as a tool to collect or disclose users' prompts for surveillance.
  • Federal employees cannot use the law to sue their employer for conduct within the scope of employment, and lawful law enforcement actions carried out under a valid warrant or court order remain preserved. Courts may award attorney's fees to prevailing parties other than the United States.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

2 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 1 mixed.

Ban federal coercion of AI systems

If enacted, federal employees would be barred from coercing, directing, or encouraging AI providers to suppress or change content based on viewpoint, party, religion, ideology, or perceived truth. The bill would bar altering AI training, prompts, or safety settings to filter or distort expression for those reasons. It would bar denying or degrading access to AI based on those grounds. It would also bar collecting or sharing users' prompts with agencies when done to surveil, chill, or punish lawful speech, and bar direct interference with an individual's lawful AI use.

New private lawsuits, fees, and definitions

If enacted, a U.S. citizen who says a federal employee deprived them of First Amendment rights related to AI would be able to sue that employee for money, injunctions, or other relief. Courts would be able to award reasonable attorney fees to a prevailing party other than the United States. The bill would define who counts as an "artificial intelligence provider," who is a "Federal employee," and would use the National AI Initiative Act's definition of "artificial intelligence." It would not let a federal employee sue their federal employer for conduct within the scope of employment and would preserve other constitutional remedies.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Hageman, Harriet M. [R-WY-At Large]

WY • R

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

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