House Oversight chair probes Delaware plan to let AI agents run companies

US Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has asked Delaware Governor Matt Meyer for documents about a proposal to create a new corporate form, the Artificial Intelligence Company (AIC), that would be managed by AI agents. Comer said the plan could help human owners avoid responsibility for reckless or harmful actions by the AI.

Comer's letter said the committee was concerned the proposal could protect powerful AI companies and their investors, while also shielding what it called non-transparent forces seeking anticompetitive regulatory capture. He suggested the inquiry could inform federal legislation limiting state AI regulatory initiatives, citing the committee's jurisdiction over intergovernmental relationships.

Under a draft bill that may go to the Delaware legislature, an AIC could pursue any lawful purpose except banking, and AI agents could be designated to manage and conduct its business. The bill proposes a 30-month regulatory sandbox to test the idea. A spokesperson for Meyer told Ars Technica the office had received the letter and was reviewing it.

Delaware Secretary of State Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez, who announced the idea in a Fortune op-ed, argues that states should give autonomous software a legal identity so that responsibility and damages have a defined target. Under the draft, the AIC can sue and be sued, hold property and incur obligations, and must keep a log of its activities.

The liability structure is the point of dispute. Each AIC has a single member, a person or entity, that must keep it adequately capitalized. That member is not liable for the AIC's acts or omissions, except where it uses the company for fraud or willful violations of law, or lets it operate outside its stated purpose when it knew or should have known. Comer reads this as protection from harms to partners, consumers and the public.

Scale adds to the stakes. About two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated in Delaware, and the state formed 334,461 new entities in 2025, according to Patibanda-Sanchez. The plan would also bring Delaware more tax and fee revenue. The sandbox was developed with Norm Ai, which says it makes legal AI agents for businesses.

The open questions are whether Delaware hands over the requested documents and whether the bill is formally submitted. Patibanda-Sanchez's office declined to comment and referred press requests to the governor's office.

Also worth watching is whether Comer follows through on federal legislation limiting state AI rules, which would turn a dispute over one Delaware bill into a broader fight over state authority.