AI Industry Leader Wants 50 Free Kills

This article was reported and first published by The Lever.

The artificial intelligence firm Anthropic has pitched itself as a pro-regulation, “safety-first” alternative to its competitors — but sample rules quietly circulating on Capitol Hill reveal the staggering scale of what the firm is willing to sacrifice to achieve AI dominance. The draft legislation, proposed by Anthropic and obtained by Politico, would let the federal government interfere with an AI model’s release only if it risks immediate, predictable damages of more than $1 billion or 50 human deaths — potentially giving AI firms dozens of free kills.

Anthropic’s draft bill also requires AI developers to submit a variety of security and safety data to the federal government, while simultaneously creating an exemption blocking these records from Freedom of Information Act requests.

These terms closely mirror those in an Anthropic-endorsed California state law signed by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom roughly a year after he vetoed a much stronger AI safety bill. The draft legislation is also similar to a public policy brief published by Anthropic in June.

“How can you watch Hugging Face, Coxon, & rogue AI swarms and conclude that the bill you cooked up in June is sufficient?” asked Alex Bores, a data scientist and New York state lawmaker, in an X post. “This comes nowhere close to the speed of developments nor the speed we need to keep people safe.”

Anthropic told Politico that “these are sensible policies we believe Congress should act on.”

This year, Anthropic pledged $40 million in political spending to back candidates in support of responsible AI through its preferred PAC, called Public First Action. Ahead of the 2028 elections, the company is also forming a “presidential engagement” program to engage potential nominees from both parties on AI. 

Meanwhile, Anthropic’s signature AI model Claude will soon be available for use by Senate staffers. “Legislop is gonna be amazing,” joked The Lever’s Freddy Brewster.