House Oversight Chair Comer Presses Delaware Over Plan to Let AI Agents Run Entire Companies

The chairman of the House Oversight Committee is asking Delaware to explain a proposal that would let artificial intelligence agents operate entire businesses with no human at the helm, Ars Technica reported on October 27. Rep. James Comer wrote to Gov. Matt Meyer requesting documents about the state’s planned Artificial Intelligence Company, or AIC, and signaled that Congress could look at federal limits on how states regulate AI.

Under the draft bill, an AIC could be formed for any lawful purpose except banking and would operate inside a 30-month regulatory sandbox. The company’s single member would be shielded from liability except in cases of fraud or undercapitalization. The idea was promoted in a Fortune op-ed co-written by Delaware Secretary of State Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez and John Nay, chief executive of Norm Ai, who argued for wrapping AI in legal form so autonomous systems sit inside familiar rules. The draft was prepared by John Mark Zeberkiewicz of the law firm Richards, Layton & Finger.

Why it matters

Delaware is the legal home of corporate America. About two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies are incorporated there, and 334,461 new entities were formed in the state in 2025, so a new entity type could spread quickly. Academics quoted by Ars were skeptical. Andrew Baker of UC Berkeley and Martin Petrin of York University questioned who would answer for harm caused by a company run by software, and whether limited liability makes sense when no person is making the decisions.

Comer’s letter also fits a broader fight over who writes the AI rulebook. States have been acting on their own, from New Mexico’s attorney general warning AI companies to Pennsylvania’s labels on AI-generated ads, while the federal government has pushed its own approach, including mandatory AI incident reporting from the White House. A state-created vehicle for autonomous businesses would sharpen accountability questions that those efforts have so far handled piecemeal.

What to watch

Delaware officials have not said when the bill will be introduced or how they will answer Comer’s request. The key questions are whether lawmakers in Dover add human-oversight requirements, what reporting duties the sandbox would carry, how courts would treat claims against a company with no human managers, and whether Congress moves to preempt state experiments of this kind before the first AI-run companies are registered.