Ted Cruz’s new bill would let AI companies set their own rules for up to 10 years

Sep 11, 2025 04:25 AM - 7 months ago 272666

Elissa Welle

is a NYC-based AI newsman and is presently supported by the Tarbell Center for AI Journalism. She covers AI companies, policies, and products.

On Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz introduced legislation to create a regularisation “sandbox” that would let artificial intelligence companies to research pinch minimal national oversight.

The SANDBOX Act, if passed by Congress, would let companies to use for modifications to aliases waivers from immoderate “obstructive regulations” to the testing and deployment of products aliases services that usage aliases incorporate “in full aliases successful part” astatine slightest 1 AI system. In return, companies would beryllium required to disclose plans to mitigate user information and financial risks.

The waivers would past for 2 years astatine a time, up to 10 years, harkening backmost to the failed moratorium that sought to region each state-level AI regularisation for a decade. That measure was defeated successful the Senate successful July.

The powerfulness to assistance those exceptions would remainder pinch the national agency whose regulations would different beryllium successful effect, specified arsenic the Federal Trade Commission, which enforces current online privateness protections for children. Waivers would beryllium automatically granted if the agency does not respond wrong 90 days. If rejected, the institution would beryllium capable to entreaty to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), which would oversee the sandbox programme and person the authority to override the denial. Every year, Congress would person a study connected the number of times national rules were waived aliases modified.

Technology accountability group The Tech Oversight Project calls the measure a “sweetheart woody for Big Tech CEOs” that perchance gives companies that donate to Donald Trump a different group of rules than smaller startups. Consumer defense statement Public Citizen warns that the measure would let Silicon Valley to use the “move accelerated and break things” cognition to laws and regulations. Both groups raise concerns astir the measure giving the OSTP the powerfulness to overrule national agencies, galore of which person already been hobbled by the now-dismantled DOGE.

President Trump’s AI Action Plan, announced successful July, endorsed the creation of regulatory sandboxes for AI companies. Trump’s scheme besides includes a back doorway to the moratorium by rescinding backing to states that do modulate AI.

Cruz’s ain authorities of Texas passed an AI law successful June that creates a akin regularisation “sandbox” but limits it to 36 months.

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