Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Congress should not give artificial intelligence (AI) labs a liability exemption, according to FedScoop. Speaking before the House Financial Services Committee on September 15, Bessent said, “The best way to guarantee safety is that the creators are liable for what they build and generate.”

Bessent also said AI companies should clearly disclose their potential legal responsibilities when they file documents to go public. The comments came as lawmakers questioned how liability should apply to companies developing increasingly capable AI systems.

Internal Responsibility Becomes More Important as AI Use Expands

For chief data officers (CDOs), the issue raises a separate internal governance consideration. Organizations using AI systems with access to enterprise data can establish internal responsibility for how those systems are used, what data they can access and how their outputs are handled. 

This does not determine legal liability, which can also depend on applicable laws, contracts and regulatory requirements.

That makes AI governance relevant to how organizations assign internal responsibility around AI use, even though Bessent’s remarks specifically concerned liability exemptions for AI labs.