Federal · Senate Bill · 118th Congress, 1st Session
S2399
S. 2399 — Artificial Intelligence and Biosecurity Risk Assessment Act (118th Congress)

Status ● Failed Effective N/A Passage Likelihood N/A

How Is This Bill Enforced

Enforcement Authority
No enforcement mechanism specified. The bill directs the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response to conduct risk assessments and implement strategic initiatives; no penalties, private right of action, or compliance enforcement regime is established.
Private Right of Action
No private right of action. Enforcement is exclusive to the designated authority.
Penalties
No damages, penalties, or remedies are specified. The bill creates a governmental assessment mandate only.

What This Bill Requires

Verbatim statutory text on the left; plain-language analysis and a per-section checklist on the right. Numbered markers cross-link to the matching checklist row.

Statutory Text
Analysis & Obligations
Section 1
Short Title

This Act may be cited as the ''Artificial Intelligence and Biosecurity Risk Assessment Act''.

Establishes the short title of the Act as the Artificial Intelligence and Biosecurity Risk Assessment Act. No compliance obligations are created.

Section 2 / 42 U.S.C. § 300hh–10(h)
Assessment of Emerging Risks of Artificial Intelligence
Government

(h) 1 ''(h) ASSESSMENT OF EMERGING RISKS.—In carrying out subsection (b)(4)(I), the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response shall conduct risk assessments and implement strategic initiatives or activities to address whether technical advancements in artificial intelligence, such as open-source artificial intelligence models and large language models, can be used intentionally or unintentionally to develop novel pathogens, viruses, bioweapons, or chemical weapons. Such initiatives and activities may include—

(h)(1) 1 ''(1) regularly monitoring and researching potential global biological catastrophic risks in which biological agents could lead to sudden, extraordinary loss of life and sustained damage to national governments, international relationships, economies, societal stability, or global security; and

(h)(2) 1 ''(2) including in the National Health Security Strategy under section 2802 a summary of the risk assessment conducted under this subsection.''.

This section amends Section 2811 of the Public Health Service Act by adding a new subsection (h) directing the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response to assess whether advancements in AI — specifically open-source AI models and large language models — can be used to develop novel pathogens, viruses, bioweapons, or chemical weapons. The mandate is government-facing and creates no obligations on private-sector developers, deployers, or operators of AI systems.

The provision authorizes two illustrative activities: regular monitoring and research of potential global biological catastrophic risks, and inclusion of a risk assessment summary in the National Health Security Strategy under Section 2802. No deadlines, reporting schedules, or enforcement mechanisms are specified beyond the existing ASPR statutory framework.

Compliance actions 1 item
1
The Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response must conduct risk assessments and implement strategic initiatives addressing whether AI advancements — including open-source AI models and large language models — can be used to develop novel pathogens, viruses, bioweapons, or chemical weapons, and must include a summary of the assessment in the National Health Security Strategy.

Passage Likelihood

Failed
Status Failed
Final action Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Legislative History

2023-07-19 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Entry Last Reviewed

2026-05-16
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