How to pay for AI catastrophes

Long a hobbyhorse for futurists and sci-fi authors, the prospect of a catastrophe precipitated by AI has lawmakers asking who would pay for the damage. Wired recently reported that OpenAI is backing an Illinois state bill that would protect frontier AI companies from liability for causing serious widespread injury that affects more than 100 people or does more than $1 billion in property damage, such as in the case of a chemical, biological or nuclear catastrophe. Also known as SB 3444, the bill would provide developers with civil immunity as long as they didn’t act “intentionally or recklessly,” and agree to comply with certain safety and transparency provisions in the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act. The Illinois bill speaks to a policy debate that has been playing out in other states regarding real-world AI harms—legislation introduced in New York and Rhode Island would impose greater liability on developers in certain cases.