The AI Accountability and Personal Data Protection Act was introduced amid federal lawsuits accusing AI developers of using pirating sites to obtain training material for their AI models.
The bipartisan bill, introduced Monday by U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., is meant to block the alleged theft of copyrighted works to train the models, the lawmakers said in the bill announcement.
Specifically, the bill would give anyone the right to sue a party that uses their creative works or any of their data without consent, according to the lawmakers. It would allow for monetary penalties against offending parties and allow those suing to get injunctive relief, Blumenthal and Hawley said.
"Enforceable rules can put consumers back in control of their data, and help bar abuses," Blumenthal said in a statement. "Tech companies must be held accountable — and liable legally — when they breach consumer privacy, collecting, monetizing or sharing personal information without express consent."
Just last week, Hawley led a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing focused on the alleged piracy of Meta Platforms, Anthropic PBC, OpenAI and others facing copyright lawsuits across the U.S.
Hawley said the claims against the companies are part of "the largest intellectual property theft in American history" during the hearing, which came a few weeks after two pivotal decisions in suits against Meta and Anthropic. There, California federal judges said in summary judgment rulings that it was fair use to utilize copyrighted material to train their large language models.
Regarding piracy, the judge in the Anthropic case, U.S. District Judge William Alsup, said the company would have to face a trial over some of the material it allegedly obtained through pirating websites. Anthropic has sought an appeal to the Ninth Circuit.
In the Meta case, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria has ordered the matter be briefed in the coming weeks.
There is also a federal proposed class action in New York against OpenAI and Microsoft Corp., one of the AI company's largest financial backers.
Hawley said in a statement Monday that, "AI companies are robbing the American people blind while leaving artists, writers and other creators with zero recourse."
"It's time for Congress to give the American worker their day in court to protect their personal data and creative works," Hawley said.
Representatives for Meta, Anthropic, OpenAI and Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.
--Additional reporting by Ivan Moreno. Editing by Drashti Mehta.
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