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Deputy Speaker Zachary advances AI safety bill targeting child protections and "frontier" models
Summary
Deputy Speaker Zachary told the Banking & Consumer Affairs Subcommittee that House Bill 1898 would require large AI companies to publish safety plans, report defined safety incidents to the Attorney General on a 15-day (or 24-hour imminent-risk) timeline, and allow civil penalties; committee voted 7–0 to send the bill to Commerce.
Deputy Speaker Zachary told the subcommittee that House Bill 1898 establishes transparency and safety requirements for major AI companies and puts a specific focus on risks to children and catastrophic public-safety threats. “This legislation establishes clear transparency and safety requirements for the largest and most powerful AI companies in Tennessee,” he said.
The bill identifies two high-risk areas: catastrophic public-safety risks (including cyberattacks, loss of control and weapons assistance) and child safety. Sponsor language lists examples of “frontier” developers — XAI, OpenAI, Meta, Google and Anthropic — and applies the most stringent obligations to firms with annual revenues of $500,000,000 or more. Developers must publish and implement risk-management plans, and the bill requires reporting defined safety incidents to the Tennessee Attorney General within 15 days; if an incident poses an imminent risk of death or serious physical injury, the bill sets a 24-hour reporting requirement. The amendment on the bill authorizes the Attorney General to work with the Department of Safety and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation on rulemaking and allows civil enforcement.
The sponsor emphasized that the state’s approach is intended to work alongside federal action, citing Section 8 of the presidential executive order as allowing the state to pursue child-protection and catastrophic-risk exceptions. The committee opened discussion, members asked clarifying questions about overlaps with federal law, and the clerk reported a 7–0 vote sending HB 1898 to the Commerce Committee.
Next steps: HB 1898 will go to the Commerce Committee for further consideration and any additional amendments or hearings.
