Richard Blumenthal is a Democratic United States Senator from Connecticut. His AI legislative work has been conducted largely in bipartisan pairings: with Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) on frontier-model evaluation, AI training on copyrighted works and chatbot safety for minors, and with Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) on children's online safety.
Legislation
Frontier-model evaluation. Blumenthal is the original cosponsor of the Artificial Intelligence Risk Evaluation Act of 2025 (S. 2938), introduced by Hawley on September 29, 2025. The bill would require developers of AI systems trained on more than 10^26 operations to participate in a Department of Energy evaluation program, bar deployment by non-participants, and fine violations at least $1,000,000 per day (S. 2938 — Artificial Intelligence Risk Evaluation Act of 2025 (bill text)). On September 15, 2026 Hawley and Blumenthal wrote to the four congressional leaders asking for a floor vote on it, stating that "Industry-led evaluations are not enough" and that "Frontier AI demands frontier legislation" (Source: documentcloud.org).
AI training and personal data. On July 21, 2025 Hawley and Blumenthal introduced the AI Accountability and Personal Data Protection Act, which according to Hawley's office would bar AI companies from training on copyrighted works without permission and create a federal tort for appropriating personal data or copyrighted works without consent. Blumenthal described the bill as reflecting "a bipartisan consensus that AI safeguards are urgent." Hawley's office noted that the two had introduced a bipartisan AI framework in the prior Congress (Source: hawley.senate.gov).
Chatbots and minors. He is an original cosponsor of the GUARD Act (S. 3062), introduced by Hawley on October 28, 2025 and referred to the Judiciary Committee (S. 3062 — GUARD Act of 2025, as introduced (119th Congress)).
Children's online safety. He is co-author, with Blackburn, of the Kids Online Safety Act (S. 1748 in the 119th Congress), which would impose a duty of care on online platforms used by minors, enforced by the FTC and state attorneys general. The Senate Commerce Committee ordered it reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute on August 5, 2026 (Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA, S. 1748)).
Relationships
- related: Sen. Josh Hawley — principal legislative partner on AI.
- related: Marsha Blackburn — KOSA co-lead; cosponsor of S. 2938.
- related: Artificial Intelligence Risk Evaluation Act (S. 2938), GUARD Act (Hawley), Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA, S. 1748)
- related: AI Pre-Release Vetting