Proposed AI and cybersecurity legislation: September 20, 2025 - November 15, 2025

Brief introduction.
As I was writing this, I repeatedly tore my hair out. I had almost nothing open on my laptop. Only File Explorer (1 instance open)—146 MB memory, 73% CPU; Word (1 document open)—155 MB memory; Outlook (1 instance open)—87 MB; Chrome (1 tab open)—1236 MB. Everything froze. Reboots did not help.
In the olden days prior to November 2022 when Microsoft added AI.EXE to Windows without giving customers a choice to opt out, that same amount of open "apps" would have resulted in super-fast performance. Now? You'd think my laptop is a 2001 model. (2001 model could possibly work faster if it doesn't have AI.EXE.)
It's frustrating and overwhelming when AI is being forced down our throats at the same time it brings productivity to a crawl. Hasn't anyone noticed?

NOTE: STATUS OF LEGISLATION AS OF MAY 4, 2026.

S.2925 - MIND Act of 2025 (Management of Individuals’ Neural Data Act of 2025). To direct the Federal Trade Commission to conduct a study on the governance of neural data and other related data.
Introduced September 29, 2025 by Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Cosponsored by Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Ed Markey (D-MA). No Republicans. Referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation the same day. Still in committee.
Comment: This bill does not recommend guardrails. Rather it asks that the Director of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) undertake a study to determine where guardrails are needed.
If you are interested in AI, the “findings” and “definitions” and analysis requested are worth reading. Not terribly long. This also focuses solely on AI projects like Elon Musk’s Neuralink, although it mentions neither Musk nor that program by name.

S.2938 - Artificial Intelligence Risk Evaluation Act of 2025. To require the Secretary of Energy to establish the Advanced Artificial Intelligence Evaluation Program.
Introduced September 29, 2025 by Josh Hawley (R-MO). Cosponsored by Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). Referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation the same day. Still in committee.
Comment: Pretty much does the same thing as S.2925 above, except that it focuses on AI in general, not programs like Neuralink. Interestingly, this bill would have the Secretary of Energy be responsible for the analysis and report.

H.R.5681 - STOP HATE Act of 2025 (Stopping Terrorists Online Presence and Holding Accountable Tech Entities Act of 2025). To require the reporting of certain terms of service of social media companies for purposes of limiting the online presence of terrorist organizations.
Introduced October 3, 2025 by Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ). Cosponsored by Don Bacon (R-NE). Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Intelligence (Permanent Select) the same day. Still in committee.
Comment: Do you have any idea how wonderful it would be to have this bill pass? Social media platforms would be required to update Terms of Service (ToS) to deal with online hate and terrorism, that is, actually do something about the bots and trolls that make life miserable on LinkedIn, Facebook, Substack, and more. AND, they’d have to submit detailed reports—data!—on the last days of January, April, and October.
The report would itemize e.g., how many reports of hate speech the platform received through its reporting portal, and what action they took.
Failure to report would be a stiff fine of $5 million per violation per day!

October 7, 2025 alert. April 9, 2025 transcript. Converting Energy into Intelligence: The Future of AI Technology, Human Discovery, and American Global Competitiveness.
Witnesses who spoke, and whose words are included in this transcript: Dr. Eric Schmidt, chair of the Special Competitive Studies Project, previously CEO and chair of Google; Dr. Manish Bhatia, executive vice president of global operations with Micron Technology; Mr. Alexander Wang, the founder and CEO of Scale AI; and, David Turk, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Center on Global Economic Policy.
Comment: Do you notice what I notice? All men. All involved in AI development. No women. Noone interested in guardrails.

October 7, 2025 alert. May 16, 2023 transcript. Protecting Critical Infrastructure from Cyber Attacks: Examining Expertise of Sector-Specific Agencies.
Witnesses who spoke, and whose words are included in this transcript: Puesh Kumar, Director, Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response, Department of Energy; Dr. Brian Mazanec, Deputy Director, Office of Preparedness, Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, Department of Health and Human Services; and, Dr. David Travers, Director, Water Infrastructure and Cyber Resilience Division, Environmental Protection Agency. Additionally, four letters from American Water Works Association and one from American Public Power Association were also admitted into evidence.

October 8, 2025 alert. October 8, 2025 meeting announcement. 10:30AM(EDT) | 253 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. Hearings to examine Big Tech and silencing Americans (allegedly, censorship).
Shut Your App: How Uncle Sam Jawboned Big Tech Into Silencing Americans. Transcript of meeting here. And, video of meeting here.
Don’t be fooled. This is 100% a pro-Trump meeting, waving the Trump banner. It’s focuses on what the organizers perceive as silencing of free speech by all those awful Democrats.

October 14, 2025 alert. S.Rept.119-88, transcript available as of October 21, 2025.. Transformational Artificial Intelligence to Modernize the Economy Against Extreme Weather and Wildfires Act.
Related to Bill: S.1378.
Comment: Attempts to replace humans in NOAA with AI. It’s going to be a miserable future if this happens.
Snarky comment: Amazing how when they want to get a fast turnaround on a transcript, they can do so! A week! Not three years!

October 21, 2025 alert. S.Rept.119-84, transcript available. Deploying American Blockchains Act of 2025.
Related to S.1492. That fact was omitted from alert.
From the transcript: The purpose of S. 1492 is to require the Secretary of Commerce to advise the President on blockchain policy, establish a 7-year advisory committee to promote blockchain deployment and competitiveness, develop and publish a best practices compendium, and submit annual reports.
Comment: Were you aware that we absolutely, positively need blockchain? That nothing else is as important as blockchain? That beating China at blockchain is more important than anything else under consideration?
Peter Thiel et al are most certainly getting their money’s worth.

S.3150 - GAIN AI Act of 2025 Guaranteeing Access and Innovation for National Artificial Intelligence Act of 2025). To require entities seeking a license to export advanced artificial intelligence chips to countries of concern to certify that United States persons have priority in acquiring those chips.
Introduced November 6, 2025 by Jim Banks (R-IN). Cosponsored by Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Dave McCormick (R-PA), and Chris Coons (D-DE). referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs the same day. Still in committee.
Comment: This bill would not prohibit US manufacturers of chips to export to “countries of concern.” It merely requires chip manufacturers to track and report on all orders or queries for chips. If an American company is on that list, they have preference over a prospective purchaser defined as a “country of concern.”
Note: This list includes more than the usual four: China (PRC), Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

S.Res.490 - A resolution affirming the critical importance of preserving the United States' advantage in artificial intelligence and ensuring that the United States achieves and maintains artificial intelligence dominance.
Introduced November 6, 2025 by Chris Coons (D-DE). Cosponsored by Tom Cotton (R-AR), Dave McCormick (R-PA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Roger Wicker (R-MS). Referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations the same day. Still in committee.
Comment: When you read this resolution, it becomes clear that there is nothing altruistic about AI legislation and funding. This resolution repeatedly references the military capabilities of the USA.
Can we please, but please, put guardrails in place first? President Biden was so very close!

H.R.5967 - Strategic Task Force on Scam Prevention Act. To direct the Federal Trade Commission, in conjunction with the Department of Justice, to convene an interagency task force for the purpose of addressing scams.
Introduced November 7, 2025 by Robert Menendez (D-NJ). Cosponsored by thirteen Democrats and two Republicans (Erin Houchin-IN and Brian Fitzpatrick-PA). Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce and Judiciary the same day. Still in committee.
Comment: This asks the FTC and DoJ to create a task force to address scams. AI is only one of many scams on the list.
Snarky, but very real comment: If they would simply fund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and let it do its job, we would not need the extra expense of a brand new task force. Really? These people know how to waste money more than anyone I’ve ever seen!

H.R.6043 - MY DATA Act of 2025 (Manage Your Data and Allow Only Trusted Access Act of 2025). To prohibit covered entities from preventing the use of certain data by individuals.
Introduced November 12, 2025 by Lon Trahan (D-MA). No cosponsors. Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce the same day. Still in committee.
Comment: My guess, and it’s only a guess, is that this won’t go anywhere. Trahan did not flesh out the proposed legislation sufficiently. If he had approached me with a request to cosponsor, I probably would not have. Intent is good, if not downright excellent. But it needs some work.

November 12, 2025 alert. November 18, 2025 meeting announcement. 2:00PM(EST) | 2123 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. Innovation with Integrity: Examining the Risks and Benefits of AI Chatbots.

H.R.1736 - Generative AI Terrorism Risk Assessment Act. To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to conduct annual assessments on threats to the United States posed by the use of generative artificial intelligence for terrorism.
Introduced February 27, 2025 by August Pfluger (R-TX). Cosponsored by Michael Guest (R-MS), Gabe Evans (R-CO), and Res. Comm. Pablo Hernández (D-PR). Referred to the House Committee on Homeland Security the same day. Referred to the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence the same day. Subcommittee held markup session on March 25, 2025 and discharged to full committee the same day. Full committee held a markup session on September 3, 2025.
Sent to the full House for a vote on November 12, 2025. Passed House on November 19, 2025 with amended title: Generative AI Terrorism Risk Assessment Act the same day. On November 20, 2025, received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Congress.gov summary: This bill requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to periodically provide Congress with an assessment of threats to the United States posed by the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) for terrorism. Generative AI is defined as the class of AI models that emulate the structure and characteristics of input data to generate derived synthetic content, including images, videos, audio, text, and other digital content.
The bill also (1) requires DHS to review and disseminate related information gathered by state and major urban area fusion centers and the National Network of Fusion Centers, and (2) requires other federal agencies to share related information with DHS. (A fusion center is a collaborative effort of two or more federal, state, local, or tribal government agencies that combines resources, expertise, or information with the goal of maximizing the ability of such agencies to detect, prevent, investigate, apprehend, and respond to criminal or terrorist activity.)
Odd note: The congressional record shows that they amended the title when they passed it to the Senate. But they didn’t. Introduced with that same short title. Was there a glitch in the House? If so, color me shocked.
Comment: This is what bothers me about the current approach to AI. Here’s the beginning of the bill:
It is the sense of Congress that—
(1) the heightened terrorism threat landscape and the increasing utilization of generative artificial intelligence by foreign terrorist organizations represent a national security threat, and the challenges posed by such threat are not well understood; and
(2) the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, must take steps to recognize, assess, and address such threat, thereby reducing risks to the people of the United States.
Well and good. But they’ve got blinders on. They’re not looking at the threat that US AI companies pose to US citizens.

If this post helped you in your research, please consider leaving a tip here: TIP JAR.