House Oversight Chair Opens Investigation of Delaware Plan for AI-Run Companies

Rep. James Comer, chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has opened an investigation into Delaware's plan to create a corporate entity run by an artificial intelligence agent, asking Gov. Matt Meyer's administration for documents and communications by Nov. 9. Comer, R-Ky., sent the letter Oct. 26, the committee said, and Decrypt reported on the inquiry.

"We are concerned that Delaware's AIC proposal could be used to protect powerful AI companies and their investors from responsibility for reckless harmful actions, while also protecting non-transparent forces seeking anticompetitive regulatory capture behind state AI initiatives," Comer wrote in the letter, as quoted by Decrypt. Meyer's deputy press secretary said the office is reviewing the letter, WHYY reported.

The proposal, called the Artificial Intelligence Company or AIC, would let a new kind of corporate entity act at an AI agent's direction. Delaware Secretary of State Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez and John Nay, CEO of legal AI firm Norm Ai, unveiled the concept in a Fortune op-ed in July, describing a public-private partnership led by Norm Ai. An AIC would be able to sue and be sued, hold property, and take on obligations at its agent's direction, Decrypt reported. The structure would have a single member responsible for keeping the company adequately capitalized, and that member would be shielded from the company's debts unless it failed to capitalize the firm or used it to commit fraud or a willful violation of law.

The AICs would operate only within a 30-month regulatory sandbox overseen by a committee of state officials and outside experts, would have to disclose their status to counterparties, and would be barred from banking, according to Decrypt. Draft legislation, written by attorneys at Delaware firm Richards, Layton & Finger, would let organizations apply to enter the sandbox, and the bill creates a sandbox committee and administrator, WHYY reported. The draft says the AIC "may have any lawful purpose, regardless of whether for profit, except for the business of banking."

Comer's letter asks Meyer to produce all documents and communications about the AIC's development since Jan. 1, 2025, including agreements with outside contributors, records of safety concerns, all drafts of the proposal, and "internal AI chat logs," Decrypt reported. The committee said the material could inform federal legislation, including proposals to limit state AI regulatory initiatives. The letter also questioned the role of private-sector contributors, noting that a December 2025 report by Delaware's AI Commission made no mention of efforts to assess safety risks or consult independent experts, and that the Secretary of State's office declined to tell reporters about its working relationship with an AI company involved in the project.

Delaware officials have defended the effort. Patibanda-Sanchez has rejected the framing that the plan is a liability shield, telling Bloomberg Law in July: "We're not trying to shield liability. We're trying to define where exactly liability lands when there's some type of malfeasance or psychopathic behavior," Decrypt reported. Meyer said in September on a WHYY call-in show that "it is coming, and the solution is not ignoring it."

Legal scholars have questioned the design. Christopher Bruner, a business law professor at the University of Georgia, told WHYY there is "really no overarching regulatory plan here for dealing with the fallout that AI-governed companies could bring." David Hoffman, a University of Pennsylvania law professor, told Bloomberg Law the idea "seems like a solution in search of a problem" and voiced concern about outsourcing liability, WHYY reported. Lawrence Cunningham, who directs the University of Delaware's John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance, took the opposing view in September, saying Delaware would be irresponsible to ignore the question given the state's role in corporate formation.

State lawmakers are expected to consider the draft legislation when they return in January.