DeSantis spurns potential White House AI preemption
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis, one of the most outspoken Republicans to call for artificial intelligence regulation at the national level, decried Thursday the possibility of the White House pushing to block states from creating their own safeguards against the emerging technology.
The Trump administration’s longstanding opposition to state AI laws eventually killed the legislation in Florida — one of the GOP governor’s top priorities in his final year in office — and now DeSantis fears policies in other states could be sidelined. Increasing concerns are a response to this situation. White House meeting with tech companies and child safety groups This week we’re trying to gather support for bills that could preempt some state laws regarding artificial intelligence. This marks the latest play by Republicans to target local regulations after the Trump administration and congressional leadership stop-and-go.
DeSantis said: “Preempting states: AI without enacting a sensible federal framework is merely an amnesty for Big Tech.” social mediaHe reacted to POLITICO’s news. “Coupled with the potential de facto bailout of OpenAI, this represents bad policy and even worse policy.”
Florida, led by DeSantis and state Attorney General James Uthmeier. applying more pressure than the other red stateWhen it comes to regulating AI through proposed legislation, legal action, and even an ongoing criminal investigation into how a chatbot could have aided a suspect in a deadly school shooting. But even DeSantis, who has been mostly successful in getting his ideas to the state Legislature, hit a snag this year when the Florida House sided with the White House and refused to consider his proposed AI bill of rights.
Comprehensive AI legislation sought by DeSantis and passed by the state Senate would require chatbot platforms to share information with parents, including all of their children’s interactions with AI. It would also give parents the ability to limit the time their children spend using chatbots and receive notifications if children share any thoughts about harming themselves or others.
Although DeSantis pushed lawmakers to reconsider the regulations during a special session. House never listened to this. State Assembly Speaker Daniel Perez Trump’s recent selection as ambassador to BrazilHe maintained steadfast support for the White House’s efforts for a national framework to regulate artificial intelligence, as opposed to a patchwork of state laws.
These are the kinds of state regulations and debates that are up in the air as the White House considers blocking broad swaths of state AI rules; It’s a goal that the Trump administration and congressional Republicans have been aggressively pursuing since last year. At the same time, they may still more narrowly prioritize issues like age verification for users.
Outside of legislation, Florida is fighting to hold Big Tech accountable by targeting one of the big players, OpenAI, in court and forcing the company to obtain parental consent to collect data from some of its youngest users. Uthmeier, a lawsuit filed last weekasked a judge to change the way OpenAI operates, from banning certain behavior to seeking damages on behalf of Floridians. DeSantis increased scrutiny further on Thursday. The idea of the government buying shares in OpenAI.
While AI’s bill of rights failed in Florida, the Legislature failed. placing new requirements on large data centers to protect taxpayers from “paying the bill” for their development. The legislation requires utilities to require data centers to pay their own utility costs, preventing those costs from being passed on to taxpayers. However, if the federal government takes strict action, DeSantis said future regulations could be off the table.
“As a result, we have been successful in enacting taxpayer protections so that companies cannot transfer costs from data centers to taxpayers,” DeSantis said. social media Thursday. “But [Florida] The House blocked the AI Bill of Rights (passed 37-1 by the Senate), so these protections were not enacted.
