What happened
- On September 5, La Tercera published the details of the substitute amendment the Ministry of Science is preparing for the AI framework bill, bulletin 16821-19, now in its second reading in the Senate.
- The proposal eliminates the classification of systems into 4 risk levels and replaces it with updatable technical standards, with voluntary certifications and audits.
- It also removes AI-specific sanctions, so they don’t overlap with the personal data, cybersecurity and consumer protection laws, and shifts the focus from the infringement to the harm actually caused.
- According to the Senate’s legislative tracking record, the Executive has renewed the original bill’s simple urgency designation 5 times since May 12. The latest renewal is from September 1. As of September 10, the record doesn’t show the amendment being filed.
Why it matters
- A Chilean company using a foreign model to answer complaints, screen résumés or assess credit would no longer be liable for failing to document, but would become liable when someone proves harm. Documentation stops being an obligation and becomes the only defense available afterward.
- A voluntary certification is worth whatever the person signing it is worth. What has been published doesn’t say who would accredit the auditors. California answered that question on September 9 with a state registry of AI auditors that must open by 2029 at the latest.
- Sandboxes (test spaces with rules suspended under supervision) have an entry cost. Rodrigo Durán, head of the National Center for Artificial Intelligence (Cenia), warned in La Tercera that they may end up mainly benefiting large players.
The number
5 renewals of the simple urgency designation between May 12 and September 1, 2026. Each one gives the Senate 30 days to pass a text that the Executive itself wants to replace entirely.
Context
The bill merges an April 2023 motion with the May 2024 government bill, and the Chamber of Deputies passed it on October 13, 2025. In May 2026, Minister Ximena Lincolao presented an alternative approach to the Future Challenges Committee and, according to Ex-Ante, committed to delivering the text in early September. Renewing urgency designations without passing anything is routine: the same record shows the previous government also did it every few weeks. The shift comes after the European Union postponed the high-risk tier of its own law.
What’s next
- The amendment must be filed with the Future Challenges Committee. No official date has been published.
- The current urgency designation expires in early October, 30 days after its last renewal.
- If the Senate approves a substitute text, the bill returns to the Chamber of Deputies for a third reading.
Bottom line
The proposal removes AI’s own sanctions so that other laws cover them, including the personal data law. That law is one the same government proposes postponing until December 2027.
This note describes a bill under consideration and does not constitute legal advice.
Sources
- Las advertencias que asoman con el giro del gobierno en la ley de IA — La Tercera, September 5, 2026
- Legislative record of bulletin 16821-19, Regulates artificial intelligence systems — Senate of Chile, accessed September 10, 2026
- Senadores conocen propuesta del Ejecutivo para ley marco de IA — Senate of Chile, May 26, 2026
- El giro en 180 grados que Kast prepara al proyecto de ley sobre Inteligencia Artificial de Boric — Ex-Ante, August 30, 2026
Edited by Rodrigo Cornejo. How we select and verify the facts, in who writes.