AI kill switch: Can we really shut down artificial intelligence?

In this episode of Tech News this Week, host Kelsey Sung is joined by Richard Livingston to unpack the recent discourse around AI "kill switches," including the feasibility of an AI kill switch and the emerging legislation calling for such shutdown capability and increased AI oversight.

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Amid the wider debate of whether AI development needs to slow down for safety's sake, another question has emerged: Is it time for an AI kill switch?

Several recent pieces of legislation have proposed the concept of a mandatory kill switch for AI systems. In July 2026, lawmakers introduced the bipartisan H.R. 9917 -- or the AI Kill Switch Act -- which would require AI agent developers to have shutdown capability and a mandatory incident reporting process.

In September, Sen. John Kennedy introduced S. 5417 -- or the AI Emergency Button Act -- which would similarly require AI developers to install an emergency kill switch. In the same week, in response to recent AI security incidents, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order that advances the creation of an 'AI kill switch' and establishes independent oversight of AI developers.

But how realistic is the idea of an AI kill switch?

"[Experts] say that we can't have an AI kill switch for the same reason that the internet doesn't have an off button. The ecosystem is just too complex," Richard Livingston, editor at TechTarget Cybersecurity, said on a recent episode of Tech News this Week. "There's no one place to go ahead and knock this thing out."

A complex ecosystem, Livingston noted, complicates the downstream impact of triggering such a kill switch.

"I think there's going to be a blast radius," he said. "If you have to shut down AI models that systems are dependent on downstream of you, your vendors could be affected. Other systems that you certainly never expected are going to be affected. Somebody's going to get hurt in that."

Watch this episode of Tech News this Week to dive deeper into what an AI kill switch could realistically look like, the arguments for and against such a feature, and the cybersecurity reckoning CISOs face in the wake of this debate.

Kate Murray is an editor for TechTarget's Reader Engagement and Outreach team. She joined the company as an associate managing editor of e-products in 2020 and has also served as managing editor for TechTarget's Infrastructure sites.