For the first time, Washington is getting close to deciding how to regulate artificial intelligence. And the fight that’s brewing isn’t about the technology, it’s about who gets to do the regulating.
In the absence of a meaningful federal AI standard that focuses on consumer safety, states have introduced dozens of bills to protect residents against AI-related harms, including California’s AI safety bill SB-53 and Texas’s Responsible AI Governance Act, which prohibits intentional misuse of AI systems.
The tech giants and buzzy startups born out of Silicon Valley argue such laws create an unworkable patchwork that threatens innovation.
“It’s going to slow us in the race against China,” Josh Vlasto, co-founder of pro-AI PAC Leading the Future, told TechCrunch.
The industry, and several of its transplants in the White House, is pushing for a national standard or none at all. In the trenches of that all-or-nothing battle, new efforts have emerged to prohibit states from enacting their own AI legislation.
House lawmakers are reportedly trying to use the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to block state AI laws. At the same time, a leaked draft of a White House executive order also demonstrates strong support for preempting state efforts to regulate AI.
A sweeping preemption that would take away states’ rights to regulate AI is unpopular in Congress, which voted overwhelmingly against a similar moratorium earlier this year. Lawmakers have argued that without a federal standard in place, blocking states will leave consumers exposed to harm, and tech companies free to operate without oversight.
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To create that national standard, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) and the bipartisan House AI Task Force are preparing a package of federal AI bills that cover a range of consumer protections, including fraud, healthcare, transparency, child safety, and catastrophic risk. A megabill such as this will likely take months, if not years, to become law, underscoring why the current rush to limit state authority has become one of the most contentious fights in AI policy.
The battle …