The National Whistleblower Center (NWC) recently launched a petition calling on Congress to immediately pass the AI Whistleblower Protection Act.
“Major AI companies like Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and OpenAI are building artificial intelligence technologies that carry immense potential for short term harms and existential risk,” their call for signatures reads. “The employees at these companies are in the best position to understand these risks and the need for them to be mitigated.”
Initially introduced by Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) in 2025, the AI Whistleblower Protection Act would prohibit retaliation against employees at AI companies for making good-faith disclosures to the government of suspected threats or legal violations posed by AI development. It establishes a procedure for such employees to submit complaints, prohibits retaliation against employees for making protected disclosures, and establishes legal recourse for qualified whistleblowers who nevertheless experience retaliation.
“Whistleblowers are one of the best ways to ensure Congress keeps pace as the AI industry rapidly develops,” Senator Grassley said of the bill in 2025, noting that threats are often invisible to government regulators without the help of whistleblowers. NWC’s call for signatures echoes that argument: “Industry insiders must be able to safely and securely disclose potential violations to the appropriate regulatory agencies to prevent future harm.”
“Public support is the difference between winning and losing this crucial battle for whistleblower protections in AI,” said NWC Chairman of the Board Stephen M. Kohn, pointing to recent headlines highlighting discrepancies between AI leaders’ public statements private attitudes regarding their products.
“The stakes are too high,” Kohn continued. “Silence is not an option.”
