Open-Source AI Leadership Act
Latest action. Ordered to be Reported by the yeas and naysThe constitutional right of one-fifth of those present to force every member's vote onto the public record. The mechanism behind every roll call you can look up.Read the full definition (opens a new tab): 26 - 21.
Open-Source AI Leadership Act
This bill requires the Department of Commerce to assess and publish information about risks related to use of certain foreign adversary artificial intelligence (AI) models. The bill also authorizes Commerce to take specified actions to support adoption of U.S. AI models.
Specifically, the bill requires Commerce to identify, assess, and make public (as appropriate) any risk associated with the adoption and use of open AI models developed or made available by China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia, or an individual or entity subject to the control thereof. This includes risks related to the confidentiality of personal or proprietary information, the efficacy of features intended to prevent misuse of a model, or the economic or national security of the United States.
(An open AI model is an AI model (1) with model weights that are publicly released for download or distribution; or (2) that is distributed under an open license that permits use, modification, and redistribution of the model’s source code and model weights.)
Commerce must annually publish a report that assesses risks and provides information relating to the adoption, cost, and performance of foreign adversary open AI models, including a comparison with open AI models developed and made available by U.S. individuals and entities. Commerce must submit such reports to Congress.
Further, Commerce may take specified actions to support the adoption and use of open AI models developed by U.S. individuals and entities, including identifying and addressing barriers to the adoption and use of such models.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on August 27, 2026. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on September 16, 2026: Ordered to be Reported by the Yeas and Nays: 26 - 21.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Gabe Evans (R-CO) introduced it on August 27, 2026. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on August 27, 2026, 60 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 40 days ago, on September 16, 2026.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 119th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2027 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers