CFJ Webinar: Congress and the Future of AI: Model Testing, Preemption, and Open Weight Policy

Date & Time: Aug 28, 2026 01:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Congress has spent several years debating whether to legislate on artificial intelligence. It is now debating what to legislate. Proposals for federal oversight of the most advanced models are moving in both chambers, states continue to enact their own AI statutes at a pace no federal framework has matched, and the executive branch has asserted authority over questions Congress has not resolved. Three issues sit at the center of that convergence:

Model testing: Should Congress establish basic standards for evaluating AI systems before and after deployment, particularly in high-impact and high-risk settings? The panel will take up whether such standards are necessary, what minimum criteria are workable without freezing the technology in place or entrenching the largest incumbents, and why the cost of continued inaction is high.

Preemption: AI is interstate commerce, and that places it squarely within Congress's authority. Much debate has centered on whether Congress should create a national AI framework that overrides or limits state-level AI laws, and what that would mean for innovation, accountability, and consumer protection. Open-weight policy:

How should Congress approach open-weight AI models to support American leadership, competition, and access while addressing safety and security risks — and who benefits if the answer is restriction? Join the Committee for Justice for a virtual panel examining what Congress should and should not do about artificial intelligence.

Date & Time: Aug 28, 2026 01:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Register Here

Featuring:

• Kevin Frazier, Director, AI Innovation and Law Program, University of Texas School of Law

• Neil Siefring, Senior Fellow, Alliance for the Future

• Paul Steidler, Senior Fellow, The Lexington Institute

• Moderator: Ashley Baker, Executive Director, The Committee for Justice

*******