"No human at the helm": Delaware plan would let AI agents run entire businesses

A Delaware proposal would create a new kind of company built around AI agents, and that idea is already drawing fire in Washington. US Rep. James Comer, the Kentucky Republican who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer saying the committee wants documents about the state’s work on what it calls an Artificial Intelligence Company, or AIC.

Comer’s main complaint is simple: if a company is run by AI, its human owners might be able to step back from legal responsibility when things go wrong. He said the proposal could be used to shield powerful AI companies and their investors from accountability for reckless or harmful actions.

He also raised a second concern that is very Delaware, very corporate, and not especially flattering. In his letter, Comer warned that the arrangement could give cover to opaque forces seeking anticompetitive regulatory capture through state AI initiatives.

That’s the real fight here. This is not just about whether AI can be trusted with operations. It is about who gets blamed, who gets protected, and whether a new company form becomes a neat little wrapper for risk that everyone else has to eat.