By Courtney Rozen
WASHINGTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Anthropic told California Governor Gavin Newsom that government officials should be able to seek court orders blocking the release of AI models that pose a "serious risk" to the public, according to an October 15 letter that echoed the company's earlier policy proposals.
Anthropic itself has faced government restrictions on its AI systems. The Trump administration in June ordered Anthropic to immediately restrict foreign access to its cyber-capable Mythos
5 and Fable 5 models, citing national security concerns. The US Commerce Department later lifted the order.
"When a review finds a model poses a serious risk, the government should be able to ask a court to block it," the letter to Newsom said.
An Anthropic spokesperson confirmed the letter is authentic. The California governor's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Anthropic submitted the recommendations after the governor in September convened a panel of artificial intelligence experts to develop proposals for AI safety requirements.
The company also said it opposes requirements that developers build "kill switches" capable of shutting down entire AI models in the event a company loses control over their actions. Instead, Anthropic supports more targeted interventions, such as disabling a problematic AI agent or cutting off a specific customer's access to a model, according to the letter, saying they would be more effective.
A bipartisan group of US senators in September were debating legislation that would give the US government the power to block the release of certain AI models that are deemed unsafe, Reuters reported, and companies would be able to challenge that decision in federal court. Congress left for its pre-election break shortly after, and lawmakers have not moved forward on that proposal.
US House lawmakers in July proposed the "AI Kill Switch Act," which would give US officials the power to order AI firms to shut down models that put human life or the economy at risk.
Anthropic is preparing for a US initial public offering. The listing would represent one of the most consequential stock market debuts in years, potentially reshaping benchmark indexes, investor flows and the broader narrative driving US equities.
Politico first reported the details of the letter.
(Reporting by Courtney RozenEditing by Bill Berkrot)
