Bill Summary
The "AI Foundation Model Transparency Act of 2026" is a legislative framework designed to enhance the transparency and accountability of artificial intelligence foundation models. It mandates the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to establish requirements for public disclosure of information related to the training data, algorithms, and operational practices of these models within one year of enactment.
Key provisions of the legislation include:
- **Information Submission and Public Disclosure**: Covered entities must submit detailed information about their foundation models, which includes sources of training data, governance processes, intended applications, and performance evaluations. This information must be publicly accessible, both on the entities' websites and a centralized FTC-hosted platform.
- **Exemptions and Assistance**: Fully open-source models are exempt from these requirements, and there are specific considerations to assist small and new businesses with compliance, including grace periods and resources.
- **Ongoing Regulation and Enforcement**: The FTC is responsible for updating these regulations as necessary and imposing penalties for non-compliance, treating such violations as unfair or deceptive practices under existing laws.
- **Support Resources**: To facilitate understanding and compliance, the FTC will create a dedicated online resource page for developers and users of foundation models.
Overall, the Act aims to ensure that the development and deployment of AI foundation models are conducted transparently and responsibly, thereby safeguarding public interests and promoting trust in AI technologies.
Possible Impacts
The "AI Foundation Model Transparency Act of 2026" will impact various stakeholders in the following ways:
1. **Informed Decision-Making for Consumers**: With the mandated public disclosure of key information regarding foundation models, consumers will have access to detailed data about the algorithms and training data used in AI systems. This transparency will empower individuals to make informed choices about the AI technologies they engage with, understanding potential biases, limitations, and performance metrics associated with different models.
2. **Support for Small Businesses**: The legislation includes provisions specifically designed to assist small and new businesses in complying with transparency requirements. These businesses will benefit from a grace period for compliance and access to resources provided by the FTC to help them navigate the new regulations. This support aims to level the playing field, allowing smaller entities to compete in the AI space without the burden of extensive compliance costs.
3. **Enhanced Accountability for Developers**: Covered entities, including tech companies developing AI models, will face stricter regulations regarding transparency and disclosure. This means they will need to submit detailed information about their foundation models, including data sources and performance evaluations. As violations will be treated as unfair or deceptive practices, developers will be held accountable for their AI systems, promoting ethical practices and potentially leading to improved public trust in AI technologies.
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8094 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8094
To direct the Federal Trade Commission to establish requirements for
making information available to the public about the training data and
algorithms used in artificial intelligence foundation models, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 26, 2026
Mr. Beyer (for himself, Mr. Lawler, and Ms. Jacobs) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and
Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To direct the Federal Trade Commission to establish requirements for
making information available to the public about the training data and
algorithms used in artificial intelligence foundation models, and for
other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``AI Foundation Model Transparency Act
of 2026''.
SEC. 2. ELEMENTS OF FOUNDATION MODEL TRANSPARENCY.
(a) Establishment of Requirements.--Not later than 1 year after the
date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission, in consultation with
the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the
Secretary of Commerce, the Director of the Office of Science and
Technology Policy, and other relevant stakeholders (including standards
bodies, covered entities, academia, technology experts, and advocates
for civil rights and consumers), shall do the following:
(1) In accordance with section 553 of title 5, United
States Code, promulgate regulations that:
(A) Establish requirements for covered entities
with regard to foundation models to improve
transparency of training data, documentation, testing,
data collection during inference, and operations of
foundation models, before commercial deployment and
during the lifecycle of the system.
(B) Include requirements for a covered entity--
(i) to submit specified information related
to each foundation model provided by the entity
to the Commission; and
(ii) to make publicly available certain
information related to each foundation model
provided by the entity.
(C) Specify the form and manner in which the
information described in subparagraph (B)(ii) is made
publicly available, including the following:
(i) Information that is required to be made
available on the website of a covered entity
that relates to any foundation model provided
by the entity.
(ii) Information that is required to be
displayed in a central location on a website
hosted by the Commission, including, with
respect to a foundation model, information that
is substantially similar to the information
required under clause (i).
(iii) Information submitted to the
Commission that is not required to be publicly
displayed, including sensitive or personally
identifiable data or information, or
information that would compromise the
cybersecurity of the foundation model.
(iv) A requirement for a human-readable and
consumer-friendly format to be used with
respect to the information described in clause
(i).
(v) A requirement for a machine-readable
format to be used with respect to the
information described under clause (ii).
(vi) The URL for the central location
described in clause (ii).
(D) Provide an option for a covered entity to be
deemed in compliance with some or all of this Act if
the covered entity publishes the information determined
to be necessary by the Commission pursuant to
subsection (a)(1)(A) as part of a larger document,
including a system card or model card.
(E) Specify a process for a covered entity to
submit the information required under subparagraph
(B)(i) to the Commission.
(2) Issue guidance to assist covered entities to comply
with the standards established under paragraph (1).
(b) Information To Include.--The Commission shall include in the
regulations promulgated pursuant to subsection (a)(1)(A), with respect
to a foundation model, the following information:
(1) A sufficiently detailed summary of the sources of
training data, how training data is collected, and whether and
how data is collected and retained during inference.
(2) A broad description of the size and composition of such
training data, including types of demographic information,
language information, and other attribute information, while
accounting for privacy.
(3) A description of data governance procedures.
(4) A description of the intended purposes and foreseen
limitations or risks of the foundation model, an overview of
past edits to such model, the version and date of release of
such model, the knowledge cutoff date of the training data of
such model, and information on adverse incident monitoring and
response procedures.
(5) A list of or information about languages supported by
the model.
(6) A description of the efforts of the covered entity to
align the foundation model and the transparency of such model
with--
(A) the AI Risk Management Framework (or any
successor framework) of the National Institute of
Standards and Technology;
(B) a similar Federal Government-approved consensus
technical standard; or
(C) the model specification of any covered entity,
including intended model behavior or outcomes and
guardrails for the model.
(7) Performance under evaluation, either self-driven or
through audit, on public or industry standard benchmarks,
including what precautions the foundation model takes to answer
or respond to situations with higher levels of risk of
providing inaccurate or harmful information, including, if such
model responds to such questions, relating to the following:
(A) Medical, health, or healthcare questions.
(B) Biological, chemical, radiological, or nuclear
weapons.
(C) National security.
(D) Cybersecurity.
(E) Threats to critical infrastructure.
(F) Elections.
(G) Law enforcement.
(H) Financial loan or housing decisions.
(I) Education.
(J) Employment or hiring decisions.
(K) Public services.
(L) Information relating to vulnerable populations,
including minors and seniors.
(8) Information on the computational power used to train
and operate a foundation model.
(c) Exemptions for Specific Types of Foundation Models.--A fully
open-source model is exempt from the regulations promulgated by the
Commission pursuant to subsection (a).
(d) Consideration of Alternative Provisions for Downstream
Foundation Models.--In promulgating the regulations and issuing the
guidance required by subsection (a), the Commission shall require that
a covered entity foundation model that is derived from or built upon
another covered entity foundation model, including through the use of
an application programming interface--
(1) shall publicly provide a URL to the transparency
disclosure website of the base foundation model if the base
model is in compliance with the regulations promulgated in
subsection (a); and
(2) shall comply with regulations promulgated in subsection
(a) related to any significant change, retraining, or
adaptation from such base foundation model.
(e) Alternative Provisions for Certain Covered Entities.--The
Commission shall establish a plan to assist small businesses and new
businesses that are covered entities with compliance with the
regulations promulgated pursuant to subsection (a) and to reduce the
burdens imposed by such regulations, including by:
(1) Publishing guidance for compliance, including sample
guidance and a machine-readable template, to be jointly
developed by the Commission and the Director of the National
Institute for Standards and Technology, for such covered
entities to use that will facilitate compliance with such
regulations.
(2) Providing one three-month grace period beginning on the
date on which a small business or new business becomes a
covered entity during which such covered entity is not subject
to penalties under this Act or any regulation promulgated
pursuant to this Act.
(3) Providing a qualified, technically proficient
representative to meet on multiple occasions during such grace
period with such covered entity to provide guidance to assist
the covered entity with compliance with the regulations
promulgated pursuant to subsection (a).
(f) Foundation Model Resources Page Required.--Not later than 1
year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall
establish a web page on the website of the Commission that includes
recommendations on foundation model transparency for foundation model
developers or downstream deployers of a foundation model that are not
covered entities, including recommended resources such as the AI Risk
Management Framework of the National Institute of Standards and
Technology.
(g) Permitted Redactions.--
(1) In general.--If a covered entity publishes documents or
submits information to the Commission to comply with this Act,
the covered entity may make redactions to those documents that
are necessary--
(A) to protect the cybersecurity and security of
the covered entity or model, public safety, or the
national security of the United States; or
(B) to comply with any Federal law.
(2) Identification of redactions.--Any redaction shall be
briefly identified and justified in the publication or
submission.
(h) Applicability of Regulations.--The regulations required by
subsection (a)(1) shall apply beginning on the date that is 90 days
after the date on which the Commission promulgates such regulations.
(i) Updates.--Not later than 1 year after the date on which the
Commission promulgates the regulations required by subsection (a)(1),
and annually thereafter, the Commission, in consultation with the
Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the
Secretary of Commerce, shall assess the requirements established by the
regulations and update the regulations to incorporate any necessary
update to such requirements.
(j) Enforcement by Federal Trade Commission.--
(1) Unfair or deceptive acts or practices.--A violation of
a regulation promulgated under subsection (a)(1) shall be
treated as a violation of a regulation under section
18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C.
57a(a)(1)(B)) regarding unfair or deceptive acts or practices.
(2) Powers of commission.--Except as provided in subsection
(l)(3)(C)--
(A) the Commission shall enforce the regulations
promulgated under subsection (a)(1) in the same manner,
by the same means, and with the same jurisdiction,
powers, and duties as though all applicable terms and
provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15
U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incorporated into and made a
part of this section;
(B) any covered entity that violates a regulation
promulgated under subsection (a)(1) shall be subject to
the penalties and entitled to the privileges and
immunities provided in the Federal Trade Commission
Act; and
(C) the Commission shall provide covered entities
with notice that they are covered entities not less
than fourteen days before taking any enforcement
action.
(k) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment
of this Act, the Commission shall submit to the Committee on Energy and
Commerce and the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the
House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation of the Senate a report on the establishment,
implementation, and enforcement of the regulations issued pursuant to
subsection (a)(1).
(l) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Artificial intelligence.--The term ``artificial
intelligence'' has the meaning given that term in section 5002
of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Act of 2020
(15 U.S.C. 9401; Public Law 116-283).
(2) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal
Trade Commission.
(3) Covered entity.--
(A) In general.--The term ``covered entity'' means
any person, partnership, or corporation described in
subparagraph (C) that provides use of or services from
a foundation model which does any of the following:
(i) Exhibits, or could be easily modified
to exhibit, high levels of performance at tasks
that could pose a significant risk to security,
national economic security, consumer
protection, civil rights, national public
health or safety, or any combination of those
matters.
(ii) Has, in aggregate, over 10,000,000
monthly users, including users of second party
entities that use such model.
(iii) Has in aggregate, over 10,000,000
monthly foundation model download instances if
the model is typically downloaded once for use
by a user.
(iv) Was trained using a quantity of
computing power greater than 10\26\ integer or
floating point operations, including computing
used by the entity for the original training
run and for any subsequent fine-tuning,
reinforcement learning, or other material
modifications the entity applies.
(B) Updating of thresholds.--The Commission, in
consultation with the Director of the National
Institute of Standards and Technology, the Secretary of
Commerce, and the Director of the Office of Science and
Technology Policy, may, by regulation promulgated in
accordance with section 553 of title 5, United States
Code, update the number of monthly output instances for
purposes of subparagraph (A)(i), the number of monthly
users for purposes of subparagraph (A)(ii), the number
of monthly foundation model download instances for
purposes of subparagraph (A)(iii), or the quantity of
computing power for purposes of subparagraph (A)(iv) as
the Commission considers appropriate.
(C) Persons, partnerships, and corporations
described.--The persons, partnerships, and corporations
described in this subparagraph are--
(i) any person, partnership, or corporation
over which the Commission has jurisdiction
under section 5(a)(2) of the Federal Trade
Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45(a)(2)); and
(ii) notwithstanding section 4, 5(a)(2), or
6 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15
U.S.C. 44; 45(a)(2); 46) or any jurisdictional
limitation of the Commission--
(I) any common carrier subject to
the Communications Act of 1934 (47
U.S.C. 151 et seq.) and all Acts
amendatory thereof and supplementary
thereto; and
(II) any organization not organized
to carry on business for its own profit
or that of its members.
(4) Critical infrastructure.--The term ``critical
infrastructure'' has the meaning given that term in subsection
(e) of the Critical Infrastructures Protection Act of 2001 (42
U.S.C. 5195c(e)).
(5) Foundation model.--
(A) In general.--The term ``foundation model''
means an artificial intelligence model that meets the
following requirements:
(i) Is trained on broad data.
(ii) Generally uses self-supervision.
(iii) Generally contains at least
1,000,000,000 parameters.
(iv) Is designed for generality of output.
(v) Is generally applicable across a wide
range of contexts, adaptable to a wide range of
tasks, or can issue a wide range of outputs in
response to inferences.
(B) Effect of technical safeguards.--The term
``foundation model'' includes an artificial
intelligence model otherwise described in subparagraph
(A) even if such model is provided to users with
technical safeguards that attempt to prevent users from
taking advantage of any relevant capabilities that may
be unsafe for consumer use.
(6) Inference.--The term ``inference'' means, with respect
to a foundation model, when such foundation model is operated
by a user to produce a result.
(7) Minor.--The term ``minor'' means any individual under
the age of 18 years.
(8) New business.--The term ``new business'' means a
startup or other new business that has been in operation for
less than 1 year.
(9) Senior.--The term ``senior'' means an individual who is
65 years of age or older.
(10) Small business.--The term ``small business'' has the
meaning given the term ``small business concern'' in section
3(a) of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632(a)).
(11) Training data.--The term ``training data'' means, with
respect to a foundation model, the data on which such
foundation model was trained.
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