OpenAI endorses multiple tech bills in Congress as it bets on regulation over resistance

OpenAI has been quietly endorsing a growing list of federal and state technology bills, positioning itself as a cooperative actor in a regulatory environment that most of its peers are still treating as an adversarial one.

What OpenAI is actually backing

On May 13, 2026, OpenAI backed the Kids Online Safety Act, known as KOSA, which pushes for AI-specific protections for minors online. The bill has bipartisan support.

Then on June 24, 2026, OpenAI endorsed the DEFIANCE Act, a piece of legislation aimed at giving civil legal recourse to victims of nonconsensual deepfakes. If someone uses AI to create explicit images of you without your consent, this bill would let you sue them.

At the state level, OpenAI’s public policy agenda from June 3, 2026 lists California’s SB 53, New York’s RAISE Act, and Illinois SB 315 as models worth following. Illinois SB 315 is particularly notable. It passed and now requires AI developers generating more than $500M in annual revenue to publish safety frameworks and accept accountability for incidents tied to their systems.

OpenAI also called for a complementary federal framework through the Center for AI Standards and Innovation, arguing that state-level wins can serve as blueprints for national standards, especially while comprehensive federal AI legislation remains stalled in Congress.

What this means for markets and investors

Regulatory frameworks tend to favor companies that can afford compliance infrastructure. A requirement that AI developers with over $500M in revenue publish safety frameworks is also a meaningful barrier to entry for smaller competitors.

The backing of the DEFIANCE Act is particularly relevant from a liability perspective. A federal civil rights framework that channels nonconsensual deepfake liability into defined legal processes is more predictable for large AI companies than the current patchwork of state laws and tort claims.

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