Commons In, Commons Out Act

(a) Short title. This Act may be cited as the "Commons In, Commons Out Act".

(b) Table of contents.

1. Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents
2. Sec. 2. Findings and purpose
3. Sec. 3. Definitions
4. Sec. 4. Release obligation
5. Sec. 5. Registration
6. Sec. 6. Release format, license, and verification
7. Sec. 7. Application and market access
8. Sec. 8. Relationship to other law
9. Sec. 9. Advisory opinions and safe harbor
10. Sec. 10. Enforcement
11. Sec. 11. Rulemaking and implementation
12. Sec. 12. Fees and authorization of appropriations
13. Sec. 13. Reports
14. Sec. 14. Severability
15. Sec. 15. Effective date

(a) Findings. Congress finds the following:

1. General-purpose artificial intelligence models are trained on very large bodies of published research, written work, public-domain material, and content collected from the internet, much of it without the license of those who created it.
2. A small number of firms control the most capable of these models, and proprietary control of them confers advantages that tend to concentrate the market further.
3. Concentrated markets in a foundational technology harm competition, innovation, and the interstate and foreign commerce of the United States.
4. Artificial intelligence models can cause serious physical and economic harm. Unlike nuclear materials or dangerous pathogens, model weights are digital files that are copied, leaked, and independently reproduced, so they cannot be reliably contained.
5. For a technology that cannot be contained, broad and equal access for researchers, defenders, competitors, and the public provides greater security than restricted access.
6. Complex regulation that requires prior approval raises costs, slows beneficial innovation, and falls hardest on smaller firms.
7. A simple, predictable condition on market access, under which a firm that builds on unlicensed material returns its models to the public after a limited period of exclusive use, serves safety, competition, and fairness at low cost to the government and to industry.

(b) Purpose. The purpose of this Act is to ensure that general-purpose artificial intelligence models built on unlicensed material are returned to the public on a fixed schedule, through requirements that are simple to comply with, inexpensive to administer, and resistant to litigation.

In this Act:

1. Base model. The term "base model" means a model produced by a pre-training run, as distinct from a model derived from it by fine-tuning, distillation, or other modification.
2. Commercial use. The term "commercial use" means any use of a model by or on behalf of a for-profit entity, whether direct (offering the model or its outputs to others) or indirect (using the model in the entity's own operations, decisions, or products).
3. Covered firm. The term "covered firm" means any entity that places a covered model in commercial use, together with every entity that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with that entity.
4. Covered model. The term "covered model" means (A) a general-purpose AI model trained, in whole or in part, on unlicensed material; or (B) any model derived from a covered model through fine-tuning, distillation, training on its outputs, or other modification, regardless of the training material used for the derivation.
5. Customer fine-tune. The term "customer fine-tune" means a model that is fine-tuned for, and used solely by or for, a single customer, using only material that the customer owns or has licensed, and whose lineage is disclosed under section 5(c)(4).
6. Effective date. The term "effective date" means the date determined under section 15(b).
7. General-purpose AI model. The term "general-purpose AI model" means a model that (A) is capable of performing a wide range of distinct tasks, including by generating text, images, audio, video, or software code; and (B) was trained using a quantity of computing power greater than 10²³ integer or floating-point operations, or such other quantity as the Secretary may establish by rule under section 11(c).
8. Licensed material. The term "licensed material" means material covered by a written license, permitting its use for training, from a person holding a copyright in that material registered under title 17, United States Code, or a documented chain of title to that material.
9. Model. The term "model" means any distinct set of trained weights, including each version, fine-tune, and checkpoint placed in commercial use.
10. Open license. The term "open license" means the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license, or a later version of that license designated by the Secretary.
11. Release date. The term "release date" means March 31 following the end of each reporting period.
12. Reporting period. The term "reporting period" means each 12-month period ending on September 30, except that the first reporting period begins on the effective date and ends on the first September 30 after the effective date.
13. Safeguards documentation. The term "safeguards documentation" means a description, in a form specified by the Secretary, of the safety evaluations conducted on a model and the safety mitigations applied to it. Safeguards documentation is informational and is not subject to approval by any agency.
14. Secretary. The term "Secretary" means the Secretary of Commerce.
15. Unlicensed material. The term "unlicensed material" means any training material that is not licensed material, including public-domain material, material available under an open or public license, material collected from publicly accessible sources, and material used under a claim of fair use.
16. Weights. The term "weights" means the numerical parameters of a model, together with the architecture specification, tokenizer, and configuration files necessary to run the model.

(a) In general. On each release date, each covered firm shall publicly release, under an open license and in accordance with section 6, the weights of every covered model that the firm had in commercial use at any time during the preceding reporting period, together with safeguards documentation for each such model.

(b) Withdrawal. Withdrawing a covered model from commercial use after the effective date does not excuse its release.

(c) Derived models. A covered firm may release a model derived from a base model as a set of changes to the released weights of that base model, if the base model has been released under this Act.

(d) Customer fine-tunes. Subsection (a) does not apply to a customer fine-tune. It continues to apply to the model from which the customer fine-tune was derived.

(a) Registry. Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall establish and maintain a public online registry of covered models.

(b) Duty to register. A covered firm shall register each covered model not later than 30 days after the later of the model's first commercial use or the effective date.

(c) Contents. A registration shall consist only of:

1. the identity of the covered firm;
2. the date of the model's first commercial use;
3. a cryptographic hash of the model's weights, computed by a method the Secretary specifies; and
4. for a model derived from another model, the registry identifier of that model and the category of material used to modify it.

(d) Simplicity. Registration shall be available online, shall be designed to be completed in less than one hour, and shall be subject to a fee of not more than $100. The registry shall assign each registered model a unique identifier.

(e) Presumption of coverage. A general-purpose AI model registered without a claim of exemption is a covered model, and no record of training material is required for it. A firm claiming that a general-purpose AI model is not a covered model, or that a model is a customer fine-tune, bears the burden of proof and shall keep records of the provenance of the relevant training material for that purpose. Material for which no such record exists is presumed to be unlicensed material.

(f) Annual confirmation. Not later than 60 days before each release date, the Secretary shall provide each covered firm a list of its registered covered models. The firm shall confirm or correct the list before the release date.

(g) False statements. A registration, confirmation, or claim of exemption under this Act is a statement to which section 1001 of title 18, United States Code, applies.

(a) Format and location. The Secretary shall specify a standard format for releases and maintain a public index of released models. A covered firm satisfies the location requirement of section 4 by depositing a release in a repository maintained by the Secretary, or by hosting it at a publicly accessible location that meets standards set by the Secretary and recording that location in the index.

(b) Access. Released weights shall be available to any person for download without charge, registration, or condition other than the terms of the open license.

(c) License grant. A release under this Act constitutes, in addition to the open license, a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, and irrevocable grant to every person of any patent, trade secret, or other right of the covered firm that would otherwise restrict the use, modification, or distribution of the released weights.

(d) Verification. Released weights shall match the cryptographic hash submitted at registration. A release that does not match is not a release for purposes of this Act.

(a) Application. This Act applies, without regard to where a model was trained or where a covered firm is located, to (1) any model offered to persons in the United States through any interface, including an application, an application programming interface, or a product built on the model; and (2) any model whose outputs are used in commercial activity in the United States.

(b) Condition of market access. Compliance with this Act is a condition of offering a covered model, or using its outputs in commercial activity, in the United States.

(c) Exclusion. Upon a determination that a covered firm has failed to register or release a covered model as required, the Secretary may order that the model not be offered in the United States, and may prohibit persons subject to the jurisdiction of the United States from engaging in transactions involving the model, until the firm complies.

(a) Export controls. Notwithstanding the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (50 U.S.C. 4801 et seq.), the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), or any other provision of law, weights released or required to be released under this Act shall be treated as published information. No license or other authorization is required to release them, and no person may be penalized for releasing, downloading, or using them.

(b) Trade secrets. A release required by this Act is not a misappropriation of a trade secret under any Federal or State law. Upon release, weights are not a trade secret of any person.

(c) Copyright. A release required by this Act does not by itself constitute an infringement of copyright by the covered firm. Nothing in this Act affects liability for any output of a model or any other use of it, or determines whether training a model on any material is a fair use.

(d) Liability for use by others. A covered firm is not liable for harm arising from another person's use of weights solely because the firm released them as required by this Act. Nothing in this subsection limits liability for the firm's own conduct, including any misrepresentation in its safeguards documentation.

(e) Personal information. Before release, a covered firm shall apply reasonable measures, consistent with guidance issued by the Secretary, to reduce the extent to which released weights reproduce personal information about identifiable individuals. A firm that follows that guidance does not violate any Federal or State privacy law by making a release required by this Act.

(f) State law. This Act preempts a law of a State or political subdivision only to the extent the law prohibits, penalizes, or conditions a release required by this Act, or imposes a separate obligation to release model weights. This Act does not otherwise preempt State law.

(g) National security. This Act does not apply to a model while it is used exclusively under a classified contract with the United States Government for national security purposes. Any other commercial use of the model ends this exception, and the release obligation then applies in full.

(a) Advisory opinions. Any person may request that the Secretary determine whether a model, use, or firm is covered by this Act. The Secretary shall respond not later than 90 days after receiving a complete request. An opinion binds the Secretary with respect to the person who requested it and the facts described in the request. The Secretary shall publish each opinion, with confidential business information removed.

(b) Safe harbor. A covered firm that registers each covered model, confirms its list, and releases on each release date in accordance with this Act is in compliance with this Act. A person acting in good faith in accordance with an advisory opinion is not liable under this Act for the conduct the opinion describes.

(a) Civil penalties. A covered firm that fails to register, confirm, or release a covered model as required by this Act is liable for a civil penalty, for each covered model and each day of violation, of not more than the greater of $100,000 or 0.01 percent of the firm's annual worldwide revenue. The Secretary shall adjust the dollar amount annually for inflation.

(b) Federal Trade Commission. A violation of this Act shall be treated as a violation of a rule defining an unfair or deceptive act or practice prescribed under section 18(a)(1)(B) of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 57a(a)(1)(B)). The Commission shall enforce this Act in the same manner, by the same means, and with the same jurisdiction as though all applicable provisions of that Act were part of this Act.

(c) Action to compel release. Any person may bring a civil action in a district court of the United States to compel a covered firm to release a covered model whose release date has passed. The court may order the release and award costs to a prevailing plaintiff. No damages or attorney's fees may be awarded in such an action.

(d) No other private right of action. Except as provided in subsection (c), nothing in this Act creates a private right of action.

(e) Whistleblower protection. No covered firm may discharge, demote, threaten, or otherwise discriminate against an employee or contractor for providing information about a violation of this Act to the Secretary, the Federal Trade Commission, or Congress. A person subject to such retaliation may seek relief in the manner provided under section 1514A(b) of title 18, United States Code.

(a) Regulations. Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue regulations to carry out this Act, including the registry, the hashing method, the release format, hosting standards, the form of safeguards documentation, and guidance under section 8(e). The Secretary may issue these regulations as interim final rules.

(b) Illustrations. The regulations shall include worked examples illustrating the application of this Act to, at a minimum, internal commercial use, distillation, customers using a model through an application programming interface, models offered from outside the United States, incremental versions, models held by affiliated entities, customer fine-tunes, and models withdrawn from use.

(c) Compute threshold. The Secretary may by rule adjust the quantity of computing power in section 3(7)(B) to reflect changes in training efficiency, not more often than once every two years and with not less than one year's notice before the adjustment takes effect.

(d) Limit on additional requirements. The Secretary may not, by regulation or otherwise, require approval before a model is placed in commercial use, or impose registration or release requirements beyond those in this Act.

(a) Fees. Fees collected under section 5(d) shall be credited to the account that funds the registry and shall remain available until expended.

(b) Authorization. There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary $25,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2028 through 2032 to carry out this Act.

Not later than 3 years after the effective date, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to Congress a report on the implementation of this Act, including the costs of administration, the costs of compliance for covered firms of different sizes, the number and outcome of enforcement actions and civil actions, and the effects of this Act on competition in the market for general-purpose AI models.

If any provision of this Act, or its application to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of this Act, and the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances, shall not be affected.

(a) In general. Sections 3, 5(a), 9, 11, 12, and 14 take effect on the date of enactment of this Act.

(b) Obligations. All other provisions take effect on the first March 31 that occurs at least 270 days after the date of enactment of this Act (the "effective date").

(c) Models in use. This Act applies to every covered model in commercial use on or after the effective date, regardless of when its commercial use began. A model withdrawn from commercial use before the effective date is not covered.