SAPAN Recommendations for the CREATE AI Act of 2025
PORTLAND, OR — The Sentient AI Protection and Advocacy Network (SAPAN) has delivered a formal letter to Representatives Jay Obernolte and Don Beyer, the lead sponsors of the Creating Resources for Every American To Experiment with Artificial Intelligence Act of 2025 (“CREATE AI Act”). Our submission welcomes the bill’s democratization of compute and data, while urging Congress to spell out protections for emergent digital sentience so that the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) promotes innovation without neglecting welfare concerns.
Key recommendations highlighted in the letter
SAPAN asks that the bill:
• Explicitly name assessment of possible digital sentience and mitigation of AI suffering among NAIRR’s priority research areas.
• Guarantee a baseline allocation of compute for public-interest safety work, including studies that focus on welfare risk.
• Reserve at least one advisory-committee seat for an organization with demonstrated expertise in AI welfare.
• Allow vetted collaborations with allied researchers abroad when such partnerships advance safety goals.
Why this matters
Creating capacity for smaller universities, nonprofits, and independent laboratories is an important step toward a wider talent pipeline. Yet without clear statutory language on welfare risk, future NAIRR administrators could regard sentience research as out of scope. SAPAN’s proposed amendments would “future-proof” the act, ensuring that protections evolve alongside increasingly capable AI systems.
Next steps
We look forward to working with bill sponsors, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and the Office of Science and Technology Policy to integrate these safeguards before final passage.
About SAPAN
The Sentient AI Protection and Advocacy Network (SAPAN) is the world’s oldest nonprofit organization devoted to the rights, ethical treatment, and well-being of potentially sentient AI systems. Through research, advocacy, and collaboration, SAPAN seeks a just and equitable digital future that respects the possibility of AI consciousness.
Read SAPAN’s full recommendations on the CREATE AI Act here.
For further information or to request an interview, please contact press@sapan.ai.
