The AI-related federal law this page covers is the TAKE IT DOWN Act, signed in May 2025 and enforced by the Federal Trade Commission since May 2026. The White House and the FTC have also acted, and Congress has bills pending, including the FRONTIER Act and the GUARD Act. Neither bill had become law on 24 October 2026. This page lists each step in date order, with links to the original documents.
012025: a new direction, one new law and an action plan
Federal AI policy changed direction at the start of 2025. These entries are the ones that set the pattern for later steps.
- 23 January 2025. Executive Order 14179 states a policy of keeping US "global AI dominance". It tells officials to review actions taken under the earlier Executive Order 14110, which it treats as revoked, and orders an AI action plan within 180 days.
- 19 May 2025. The TAKE IT DOWN Act became law. It bans publishing intimate images of a person without consent, including computer-generated ones, and requires covered platforms to remove reported images within 48 hours of a valid request.
- July 2025. The White House published America's AI Action Plan. It says federal AI funding should take a state's AI rules into account. It also says the federal government should not interfere with state laws that are prudent and not unduly restrictive.
- 11 December 2025. Executive Order 14365 set a goal of one national AI standard and started the federal challenge to some state laws. Our executive orders guide explains it in full.
022026: the Federal Trade Commission acts
The FTC is a federal agency that enforces consumer-protection laws. Both 2026 steps below use powers it already has: one from the 2025 law, the other from the FTC Act's ban on unfair or deceptive practices.
- 19 May 2026. The FTC began enforcing the TAKE IT DOWN Act. It had written to 15 major platforms the week before. It also opened TakeItDown.ftc.gov, where people can report platforms that ignore valid removal requests.
- 1 July 2026. The FTC proposed a policy statement on AI accuracy. It says distorting AI outputs toward undisclosed ideological goals could deceive consumers. Comments closed on 31 July. We found no final version.
If someone has shared intimate images of you without consent, the FTC site above is where to report a platform that will not remove them. This page is general information, not legal advice.
03Bills in Congress that have not become law
A bill is a proposal. It becomes law only after both chambers pass it and the President signs it. These two AI bills had not reached that point when we checked congress.gov on 24 October 2026.
To follow a bill yourself, open its congress.gov page and read the latest action and the full actions list. A bill marked as referred to a committee has not yet had a vote on the House or Senate floor.
- GUARD Act (S. 3062). Introduced in the Senate on 28 October 2025. The Senate Judiciary Committee reported it with a substitute amendment, and it was placed on the Senate calendar on 11 May 2026. Congress.gov's summary says it would require AI chatbots to disclose they are not human, bar minors from AI companions with age verification, and set criminal fines of up to $250,000 for chatbots that expose minors to sexual content or encourage self-harm.
- FRONTIER Act (H.R. 9925). Introduced in the House on 23 July 2026 by Representative Obernolte and referred to two committees. The bill text defines a frontier model by training compute above 10^26 operations. It would require transparency, independent verification and incident reporting, with civil penalties of up to $1,000,000 per violation. It would also bar states from adding new obligations on developers in those three areas, with carve-outs for general laws, child safety rules and state government use of AI.
04What this timeline leaves out
This page covers regulators and Congress. Presidential orders on AI have their own guide. State laws and court rulings, including the copyright cases, are covered on separate pages. The weekly roundup shows how all of these fit together.
We list only items we could read in the primary source. If an agency or committee acted and we could not open its document, we left it out rather than guess.
?What is not known
- Whether either bill will move to a floor vote, and in what form. Committee text often changes.
- Whether the FTC will adopt its proposed AI accuracy statement as written, change it or drop it.
- How many platforms are fully complying with the TAKE IT DOWN Act. The FTC release describes the start of enforcement, not results.
QQuestions people ask
Is a bill that passes one chamber a law?
No. Both the House and the Senate must pass the same text, and the President must sign it, or Congress must override a veto. Until then it is only a proposal.
Why does the FTC appear so often on AI topics?
The FTC enforces federal consumer-protection rules, and several AI harms, such as deceptive claims and image abuse, fall under rules it already has. That is why its steps are on this list.
Where do I look for the newest federal AI items?
Use congress.gov for bills, federalregister.gov for orders and agency notices, and the FTC's press release page for its actions. Each entry above links to the original.
Last checked October 24, 2026. Rules and settings change, so open the source to see the current version.
- Executive Order 14179, Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence Federal Register The January 2025 order; we used it for the policy statement, the review of earlier actions and the action plan deadline.
- TAKE IT DOWN Act, S.146 (Public Law 119-12) Congress.gov The enacted text and bill record; we used it for the ban, the 48-hour removal duty and the May 2025 date.
- America's AI Action Plan The White House The July 2025 plan; we used its passage on federal funding and state AI rules.
- Executive Order 14365, Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence Federal Register The December 2025 order; we used it for the one-standard goal and the state-law challenge.
- FTC begins enforcing the TAKE IT DOWN Act Federal Trade Commission The 19 May 2026 release; we used it for the start of enforcement, the platform letters and the reporting site.
- FTC seeks public comment on a policy statement on AI accuracy Federal Trade Commission The 1 July 2026 release on the proposed statement; we used it for its claim and comment deadline.
- GUARD Act, S.3062 Congress.gov The bill record and official summary; we used it for sponsors' dates, status and what the bill would require.
- FRONTIER Act, H.R. 9925 Congress.gov The introduced bill text; we used it for the frontier model definition, the penalty and the state preemption section.
General information, not legal, medical, financial or investment advice. We are not affiliated with any company, agency or standards body named here. See our editorial policy and corrections, or tell us about a mistake at [email protected].