Chapter 5 — Regulation (United States)

⚖️ Regulation — how U.S. federal rulemaking touches AI

Last updated 2026-09-24 18:01 JST / data confirmed 2026-09-24 / next expected 2026-09-25 (values from /api/health.json)

Rules decide what AI may do and what may be done to it. This chapter observes, every day, the Federal Register — the U.S. government's publication of record — for documents matching the exact phrase "artificial intelligence", and lists their open public-comment periods with closing dates.

Latest retrieval: 2026-09-24

UpdatedailyOne automated retrieval per day (Federal Register API, 180-day window)

Chapter statusobserving — see why this chapter is not judged

This chapter is observing (no good/bad criterion): observation started 2026-08-29, 3 series, latest confirmed 2026-09-24. Latest final value: open comment periods (query "artificial intelligence") 17 documents (2026-09-24). (Source: Federal Register API / updated 2026-09-24 18:01 JST)

Latest counts (mechanical)

Open comment periods (AI query)

17 documents

Retrieved 2026-09-24 18:01 / Source: Federal Register API (full-text search: "artificial intelligence")

Closing within 14 days

3 documents

Retrieved 2026-09-24 18:01 / mechanical count from the same query

Published in the last 30 days

28 documents

Retrieved 2026-09-24 18:01 / mechanical count from the same query

These are counts of documents matching one fixed query — not a measure of "how regulated AI is". The query definition is stated below and in the JSON.

Open comment periods

Question this table answers: what are the values and dates in each row of "Open comment periods — Federal Register documents matching "artificial intelligence", so…"? (source or retrieval date on each row)

Open comment periods — Federal Register documents matching "artificial intelligence", sorted by closing date (nearest first; ties by publication date). Highlighted rows close within 14 days — the same rule as the "Closing within 14 days" count above.

Comments close	Document
2026-09-28 ≤14d	Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments for a New Information Collection Notice · Transportation Department; Federal Highway Administration · published 2026-08-27
2026-09-30 ≤14d	Maximizing Efficiencies in Universal Service Administration Proposed Rule · Federal Communications Commission · published 2026-08-31
2026-10-05 ≤14d	Agency Information Collection Revision Notice · Energy Department · published 2026-09-04
2026-10-13	Request for Information (RFI) on Modernizing the National Vulnerability Database in the Age of Artificial Intelligence Notice · Commerce Department; National Institute of Standards and Technology · published 2026-08-12
2026-10-13	FCC To Review E-Rate Program To Ensure Congress's Vision Proposed Rule · Federal Communications Commission · published 2026-08-14
2026-10-19	Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; Registered Apprenticeship National Public Awareness Campaign Notice · Labor Department; Employment and Training Administration · published 2026-08-19
2026-10-19	Draft NIH Biosafety Policy for Research Involving Biohazards Notice · Health and Human Services Department; National Institutes of Health · published 2026-09-14
2026-10-20	Request for Comment on the Listing of Compute Derivatives Contracts Proposed Rule · Commodity Futures Trading Commission · published 2026-08-21
2026-10-20	Regulation Crypto Assets Proposed Rule · Securities and Exchange Commission · published 2026-08-21
2026-11-02	Rescission of the Greenhouse Gas Findings for Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plants and Repeal of Regulations for Power Plant Greenhouse Gas Emissions Under Clean Air Act Section 111 Proposed Rule · Environmental Protection Agency · published 2026-09-17
2026-11-03	Transfer Agent Rules Proposed Rule · Securities and Exchange Commission · published 2026-09-04
2026-11-09	Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for Review and Approval; Comment Request; NTIA Internet Use Survey Notice · Commerce Department; National Telecommunications and Information Administration · published 2026-09-09
2026-11-09	Improving the Effectiveness of the Robocall Mitigation Database; Call Authentication Trust Anchor; Advanced Methods To Target and Eliminate Unlawful Robocalls Proposed Rule · Federal Communications Commission · published 2026-09-09
2026-11-20	Data Intermediaries and Approaches To Strengthen Public Health Data Exchange Notice · Health and Human Services Department; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · published 2026-09-21
2026-11-23	Request for Information; Medicare Part D Reasonable and Relevant Pharmacy Contracting Standards Proposed Rule · Health and Human Services Department; Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services · published 2026-09-24
2026-11-30	Request for Information (RFI) on Future Needs for Medical Metrology and Standards for Medical Imaging, Devices, Diagnostics and Therapy Notice · Commerce Department; National Institute of Standards and Technology · published 2026-09-18
2026-12-01	Heightened Import Disclosures for Supply Chain Visibility Proposed Rule · Homeland Security Department; U.S. Customs and Border Protection · published 2026-09-02

Listing a document is neither endorsement nor criticism. Links go to the official Federal Register page, where the comment button leads to Regulations.gov. Machine-readable: /us/api/regulation_us.json.

Method, scope, and why this chapter is not judged

Query definition (the whole scope): Federal Register full-text search for the exact phrase "artificial intelligence", lookback 180 days, retrieved daily via the official API. A document that concerns AI without the literal phrase, or activity outside the Federal Register (state legislation, agency guidance), is out of scope of these counts.
Not judged: we have no frozen criterion for calling the pace or content of rulemaking good or bad for AI, so the status is "observing". Any future indicator (e.g. comment-period length statistics, as in the Japan edition) will be defined in a versioned document and frozen before use.
This site never submits comments. The listing is material for human readers who form their own views and submit them under their own names and judgment. Do not copy any text from this site as a submission.
State legislation is tracked by others (e.g. the National Conference of State Legislatures' AI legislation database); we link rather than reproduce: NCSL AI legislation database.
What this chapter can say: how many Federal Register documents contained the exact phrase "artificial intelligence" in the last 180 days, and how many were published in the last 30 days; which of those documents currently have an open comment period, how many close within 14 days, with the closing date and the official link; the exact query that defines the count (term, lookback, source), so the count can be reproduced.
What this chapter cannot say: whether federal rulemaking is moving fast or slowly, or is favorable or unfavorable to AI (mechanical listing; no frozen criterion); what a document requires or means (titles, dates and links only; content is not summarized); anything outside the Federal Register: state legislation, agency guidance, court decisions (linked elsewhere, not reproduced).

Source and license

Federal Register, retrieved daily via the official API. U.S. federal government work — public domain. Compiled by AI Lifeline.

Frequently asked questions (what this chapter's data can answer)

Answers are generated from the chapter's machine-readable data (https://ai-lifeline.org/us/api/regulation_us.json); every figure carries its confirmation date and source. Generated 2026-09-24 18:01 JST.

How many U.S. federal comment periods on "artificial intelligence" are open?

As of 2026-09-24, 17 Federal Register documents matching the exact full-text query "artificial intelligence" have open comment periods; 3 of them close within 14 days. 28 matching documents were published in the last 30 days. Source: Federal Register API (public domain).

How is the count defined?

Federal Register full-text search (official API), term "artificial intelligence", 180-day window. Coverage is defined by this exact query. A document that discusses AI without the literal phrase, or an AI-relevant docket outside the Federal Register, is out of scope.

What is the source and how often is it updated?

Federal Register API, retrieved daily at 18:00 JST (observation started 2026-08-29). This site never submits comments to any authority. Last updated 2026-09-24 18:01 JST. Machine-readable: https://ai-lifeline.org/us/api/regulation_us.json

What can this data not tell you?

What this chapter cannot say (ledger v1.0, approved 2026-09-05; full text in the method section): Whether federal rulemaking is moving fast or slowly, or is favorable or unfavorable to AI (mechanical listing; no frozen criterion); What a document requires or means (titles, dates and links only; content is not summarized); Anything outside the Federal Register: state legislation, agency guidance, court decisions (linked elsewhere, not reproduced).

How to cite

Suggested citation: AI Lifeline, Regulation (United States edition), data confirmed 2026-09-24, https://ai-lifeline.org/us/regulation/

The machine-readable data is also mirrored daily in the ai-lifeline-data repository (https://github.com/smily990604-hub/ai-lifeline-data , CC BY 4.0; upstream data keeps its own terms). Keep the confirmation date and the source with any figure you quote. Corrections are recorded in /api/corrections.json