Yearly audit
Annual independent compliance audit. An outside auditor checks once a year that you did what your framework says.
What it does
Once a year, an outside auditor checks whether the lab actually did what its safety framework promised. A summary is made public.
Applies to: Covered frontier developers (SB 1047 would have started this in 2026).
- Retain an independent third-party auditor annually to assess compliance with the safety framework, identify gaps and recommend corrections (SB 1047 § 22603(e)).
- Publish a redacted audit report and send it to the Attorney General.
- California's 2026 laws SB 813 and AB 1405 set up a framework and registry for independent verification organizations.
Where things stand
Labs already commission external security audits and, increasingly, external reviews of their safety frameworks. Anthropic commits to seeking public external review of its Risk Reports.
Why it costs almost no lead
An audit looks back at the past year, so nothing waits on it. The effect is under a day.
Biggest unknown: Whether audit findings ever require remediation before a launch.
Why it lowers p(doom) by ~0.05%
Checks that labs actually follow their own safety promises.
Audits look back at whether labs kept their promises. That keeps promises honest but catches few dangers directly.
The strongest case that it costs more
An auditor who has to sign off on a framework may demand conservative interpretations of thresholds, which ratchets a lab's own gates tighter. Over several generations that ratchet could add up. It is a second-order effect and we have no data on it.
The debate
For
- Reps. Jay Obernolte and Lori Trahan introduced the FRONTIER Act with independent audits, July 2026.
- Foundation for American Innovation called the FRONTIER Act Congress's best AI bill yet, 2026.
- Asm. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan wrote California's AI auditor registry law, saying industry can't grade its own homework, 2026.
- OpenAI called California's audit laws a step in the right direction but prefers a federal rule, 2026.
Against
Sources
Rough starting points, not precise forecasts. Lead costs assume China doesn't depend on U.S. models, the case least favorable to safety laws, and count 3 years. On the menu you can change every assumption and put in your own numbers. Last priced 2026-09-26.