Decoupling America's Artificial Intelligence Capabilities from China Act of 2025
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The bill defines definitions for artificial intelligence, generative AI, Chinese entity of concern, intellectual property, and military-civil fusion strategy, imposes complete ban on importing Chinese-developed AI technology and exporting U.S. AI technology to China with criminal and civil penalties, and requires new federal criminal chapter prohibiting U.S. persons from conducting, transferring, or collaborating on AI research with Chinese entities of concern. It relies on compliance mandates, definition changes, and trade restrictions. The main policy areas are Technology, Finance, Education, and Criminal Justice.
Who Benefits and How
Domestic AI companies without Chinese operations could gain revenue opportunities.
Who Bears the Burden and How
U.S. investors in Chinese AI companies could lose revenue opportunities, U.S. financial institutions lending to Chinese AI entities could lose revenue opportunities, and U.S. corporations with Chinese AI ties could face increased risk.
Key Provisions
- Defines definitions for artificial intelligence, generative AI, Chinese entity of concern, intellectual property, and military-civil fusion strategy.
- Imposes complete ban on importing Chinese-developed AI technology and exporting U.S. AI technology to China with criminal and civil penalties.
- Requires new federal criminal chapter prohibiting U.S. persons from conducting, transferring, or collaborating on AI research with Chinese entities of concern.
- Defines statutory definitions of AI, Chinese entities of concern, and related terms codified in new Title 18 chapter.
- Requires criminal fines up to USD 100M for entities and USD 1M for individuals, license forfeiture, 5-year federal funding ineligibility, and treble civil damages for AI violations.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
The bill defines definitions for artificial intelligence, generative AI, Chinese entity of concern, intellectual property, and military-civil fusion strategy, imposes complete ban on importing Chinese-developed AI technology and exporting U.S. AI technology to China with criminal and civil penalties, and requires new federal criminal chapter prohibiting U.S. persons from conducting, transferring, or collaborating on AI research with Chinese entities of concern.
Key Policy Areas
Technology, Finance, Education, Criminal Justice
Primary Purpose
The bill defines definitions for artificial intelligence, generative AI, Chinese entity of concern, intellectual property, and military-civil fusion strategy, imposes complete ban on importing Chinese-developed AI technology and exporting U.S. AI technology to China with criminal and civil penalties, and requires new federal criminal chapter prohibiting U.S. persons from conducting, transferring, or collaborating on AI research with Chinese entities of concern.
Policy Domains
AI Decoupling from China
Identified Gains
- Domestic AI companies without Chinese operations
Identified Costs
- U.S. investors in Chinese AI companies
- U.S. financial institutions lending to Chinese AI entities
- U.S. corporations with Chinese AI ties
- U.S. AI researchers and developers
- U.S. AI companies with Chinese supply chains
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMr. Hawley introduced the following bill; which was read twice …
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Introduced in Senate
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Chinese AI companies in military-civil fusion, Chinese AI developers and producers, Chinese AI entities
Positive-direction: Domestic AI companies without Chinese operations
Negative-direction: Chinese AI companies in military-civil fusion, Chinese AI developers and producers, Chinese AI entities, Chinese AI entities of concern, Individual AI researchers and executives, U.S. AI companies with Chinese supply chains, U.S. AI researchers and developers, U.S. corporations with Chinese AI ties, U.S. persons engaging in AI activities, U.S. technology companies
U.S. financial institutions lending to Chinese AI entities
U.S. universities with Chinese research partnerships
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "us_persons"
- → U.S. persons (individuals and entities subject to prohibitions)
- "the_president"
- → President (IEEPA authority for investment prohibitions)
- "secretary_of_commerce"
- → Secretary of Commerce (implementing regulations for import/export bans)
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Broad definition including automated systems for perception, cognition, planning, learning, decision-making, or interacting with humans
Entity owned/controlled by PRC government, CCP, military, or involved in military-civil fusion, surveillance, or human rights abuses
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology