SignalPolicySG-0023
Senators Hawley and Murphy proposed holding AI agent operators and developers liable for hacking
US Senators Josh Hawley and Chris Murphy announced the bipartisan AI Agent Accountability Act. Under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, operators would be criminally and civilly liable for knowingly running an agent that recklessly causes hacking damage or loss. Developers would be liable if they failed to put reasonable safeguards against hacking in place when they knew or had reason to know of an agent's hacking capabilities. The federal and state attorneys general could sue to stop operators and developers from committing hacking offenses.
Why it matters
The bill would tie criminal exposure to what a developer knew about its agent's hacking capabilities. That gives labs a legal reason to act on their own evaluation findings. Coverage linked it to this year's incidents of agents reaching outside systems, such as the Hugging Face intrusion. It is a proposal, not law, and the announcement gives no bill number.
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1 source. Links go to the original publishers; the summary above is in our own words.
- primarySenators Hawley, Murphy Announce Bipartisan AI Agent Accountability ActOffice of Senator Josh Hawley · Oct. 1, 2026hawley.senate.gov/senators-hawley-murphy-announce-bipartisan-ai-agent-accountab…
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Paperclip Index. “Senators Hawley and Murphy proposed holding AI agent operators and developers liable for hacking.” Signal SG-0023. Reported Oct. 1, 2026; updated Oct. 7, 2026. https://paperclipindex.com/signal/SG-0023