Senator Donna Lowenthal (R-Mississippi) today introduced the Employee AI Training Consent Act, legislation requiring employers to obtain written consent before selling, licensing, transferring, or otherwise providing individually attributable employee material for the training or development of artificial intelligence systems.

The legislation follows renewed questions about how businesses may seek to commercialize human-generated material for AI training.

Those concerns drew attention recently after Deco Holdings announced that it was willing to sell its “thoughts” for AI training, without specifying what material that phrase encompassed, whether employee generated content could be included, or what consent and ownership standards would govern any future arrangement.

“Artificial intelligence is creating tremendous opportunities, but innovation does not erase individual rights,” Lowenthal said. “If a company wants to sell your writing, your voice, your image, your analysis, or other material tied directly to you so somebody else can train an AI system, you should know about it and you should have a say.”

Under Lowenthal’s bill, ordinary employment agreements, employee handbooks, work product provisions, or general intellectual property assignments would not automatically constitute consent for external AI training use. 

Employers would instead have to obtain explicit, written authorization identifying what material may be used, the intended purpose, who may receive it, and whether it can be transferred or sublicensed further.

The legislation also prohibits employers from retaliating against workers who decline to consent and provides exceptions for independently obtained public material, ordinary internal business use, and legally required disclosures.

Knowing violations could result in penalties of up to $25,000 per affected individual, while individuals whose material is improperly used would be permitted to seek relief in court.