Buried deep within President Trump’s so-called ‘big beautiful bill’ is a ten-year moratorium preventing states from regulating artificial intelligence. As AI technology races ahead, there is concern that this lack of oversight could be very dangerous.
Not only has a bipartisan coalition of 260 state lawmakers urged Congress to remove the 10-year freeze on state and local AI regulation, but polling shows a solid majority of Americans oppose the moratorium, which would cancel current laws and prevent states from enacting new AI laws.
Many ask why it is even in the bill that has already passed the House and is now before the Senate? The answer appears to be deep concern that too much regulation will help China win the crucial AI competition.
The White House doesn’t want states creating regulatory headaches when it’s racing against China’s communist regime for AI supremacy.
After California state AI legislation was vetoed last year, Appian CEO Matt Calkins told CNBC, “Regulating at the state level means that we’re going to have many different inputs into regulation, and they will have an uneven playing field for companies trying to innovate in AI. This would have slowed us down. I’d far rather see legislation at the federal or even international level.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) defended the ban, saying, “We’re in a race with China and other countries on this. If we smother this thing with rigid regulation and stop the innovation, we could do real harm for the national security interest of the country. And that’s the thought behind this.”
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However, Chris MacKenzie with Americans for Responsible Innovation, which is leading the opposition to the 10-year moratorium, says it’s too long and overly broad.
“It would actually strike down laws not just regulating AI transparency and developer risks, but also around transparency for consumers, children’s safety online, and a number of other provisions that state lawmakers have enacted to help protect their constituents. New concerns, new risks, new alarm bells can go off on AI within that decade, and state lawmakers, who are often the most responsive… their hands would be tied.”
State lawmakers have good reason to fear that an unregulated AI sector would put Americans in danger. Cybersecurity expert Neal O’Farrell at DropVault warns, “AI is a different beast. It’s not human, but it is capable of outwitting us in ways that we’re not quite ready for.”
- OpenAI’s latest ChatGPT model ignored instructions to turn itself off and sabotaged a shutdown mechanism in order to keep itself running.
- Another AI model has also shown the ability to deceive and potentially blackmail humans when ordered to shut down.
House Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie told a Semafor conference Wednesday that the 10-year ban isn’t likely to pass in its current form.
Guthrie said, “We’re not suggesting preempting 50 state laws with nothing. We’re going to have federal guardrails.”
The ban faces other hurdles. CBN News Capitol Hill Correspondent Michelle London says, “One potential obstacle is that this provision isn’t budget related. And in order for Republicans to pass this mega bill on their own, a special Senate rule requires all provisions be directly tied to the budget. While there is GOP opposition in both houses, including Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Senator Josh Hawley, Texas Senator Ted Cruz says he would introduce it in a separate package if it is removed from this current legislation.”
Some are also concerned that the proposed ban comes after President Trump signed an executive order calling for the federal government to share data across agencies, using a private data analysis firm, raising fears it could lead to greater government surveillance power.
