S. 2081

119th CONGRESS 1st Session

To establish immunity from civil liability for certain artificial intelligence developers, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES · June 12, 2025 · Sponsor: Ms. Lummis · Committee: Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

S. 2081

SEC. 1. Short title

This Act may be cited as the or the .

SEC. 2. Findings

Congress finds the following:
- Artificial intelligence systems have rapidly advanced in capability and are increasingly being deployed across professional services, including healthcare, law, finance, and other sectors critical to the economy.
- Industry leaders have publicly acknowledged the development of increasingly powerful artificial intelligence systems, with some discussing the potential for artificial general intelligence and superintelligence that could fundamentally reshape the society of the United States.
- The current lack of clarity regarding liability for artificial intelligence errors creates uncertainty that impedes the responsible integration of these beneficial technologies into professional services and economic activity.
- Many artificial intelligence systems operate with limited transparency regarding their capabilities, limitations, and default instructions, making it difficult for professional users to assess appropriate use cases and for legal systems to fairly allocate responsibility when errors occur.
- Learned professionals who utilize artificial intelligence tools in serving clients have professional obligations to understand the capabilities and limitations of the tools they employ, requiring access to clear information about system specifications and performance characteristics.
- Establishing clear standards for artificial intelligence transparency, coupled with appropriate liability frameworks, will promote responsible innovation while ensuring that the benefits and risks of artificial intelligence systems are properly understood and managed as these technologies continue to advance.
- The development of artificial intelligence systems that may significantly impact the future of human civilization warrants a governance approach that balances innovation incentives with robust transparency requirements and appropriate allocation of responsibility among developers, professional users, and other stakeholders.

SEC. 3. Definitions

In this Act:
- The term artificial intelligence has the meaning given the term in section 5002 of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020 (). 15 U.S.C. 9401
- The term client means a person that—
- The term developer means a person that—
- The term error means—
- The term learned professional means an individual who—
- The term model card means a publicly available technical document in which a developer describes, consistent with industry standards and as rigorously as or more rigorously than industry peers, the training data sources, evaluation methodology, performance metrics, intended uses, limitations, and risk mitigations, including detection, evaluation, management, and safeguards against errors, of an artificial intelligence product.
- The term — model specification

SEC. 4. Conditional immunity from civil liability for artificial intelligence developers

(a) Safe harbor eligibility
- A developer shall be immune from civil liability for errors generated by an artificial intelligence product when used by a learned professional in the course of providing professional services to a client if the developer—
  - prior to deployment of the artificial intelligence product, publicly releases and continuously maintains—
    - the model card for the artificial intelligence product; and
    - the model specification for the artificial intelligence product, which may include redactions—
      - (i) only relating to information that would reveal trade secrets unrelated to the safety of the artificial intelligence product; and
      - (ii) only if the developer furnishes contemporaneously with each redaction a written justification for the redaction identifying the basis for withholding the information as a trade secret; and
  - provides clear and conspicuous documentation to learned professionals describing the known limitations, failure modes, and appropriate domains of use for the artificial intelligence product.
(b) Scope of immunity
- The immunity provided under subsection (a) shall be conferred to a developer only for acts or omissions that do not constitute recklessness or willful misconduct by the developer.
(c) Duty To update
- Immunity under subsection (a) relating to an artificial intelligence product shall not apply to a developer—
  - that does not update the model card, model specification, and documentation with respect to the artificial intelligence product as described in subsection (a)(1) by the date that is 30 days after the date on which the developer—
    - deploys a new version of the artificial intelligence product; or
    - discovers a new and material failure mode affecting the artificial intelligence product; and
  - of which the failure to make an update described in paragraph (1) by the applicable date described in that paragraph proximately causes a harm occurring after that date.
(d) Preemption
- (1) Express preemption
  - This section shall apply to any claim arising under State law against a developer for an error arising from the use of an artificial intelligence product by a learned professional in providing professional services if the developer is immune from civil liability under subsection (a).
- (2) Claims not preempted
  - Nothing in this section shall apply to a claim arising under State law against a developer based on fraud, knowing misrepresentation, or conduct outside the scope of professional use of an artificial intelligence product by a learned professional.

SEC. 5. Preservation of other immunities and privileges

Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect any immunity from civil liability established by Federal or State law or available at common law that is not related to the immunity established under section 4(a).

SEC. 6. Effective date; applicability

This Act—
- shall take effect on December 1, 2025; and
- shall apply to acts or omissions occurring on or after the date described in paragraph (1).