PROACTIV Artificial Intelligence Data Act of 2025

The PROACTIV Artificial Intelligence Data Act of 2025 would require the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to develop a voluntary framework within one year for detecting, removing, and reporting child pornography in datasets used to train artificial intelligence systems. The framework would apply to AI developers and data collectors (but not to AI deployers or AI users) and would provide guidelines and best practices for identifying and removing child sexual content from “covered datasets”—datasets trained or prepared using automated data crawling or scraping. Importantly, it would mandate that detected instances be reported to federal, state, or local law enforcement and to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). The bill also creates a limited liability protection for developers and data collectors who follow the framework, with narrowly defined exceptions for intentional misconduct, gross negligence, or violations of certain child-sex laws, while preserving existing obligations under 18 U.S.C. 2258A. Research funding via the National Science Foundation is directed to support innovative approaches in this area, and there would be a structured process for stakeholder input and public comment.