The Trump administration is hunting for ways to block the ability of states to regulate artificial intelligence. In response, dozens of state attorneys general have now sent a letter pressing Congressional leadership not to approve language that would preempt their governments’ freedom to propose their own legislation on the technology.
“Broad preemption of state protections is particularly ill-advised because constantly evolving emerging technologies, like AI, require agile regulatory responses that can protect our citizens,” they write in a Tuesday memo. “This regulatory innovation is best left to the 50 states so we can all learn from what works and what does not. New applications for AI are regularly being found for healthcare, hiring, housing markets, customer service, law enforcement and public safety, transportation, banking, education, and social media.”
The endeavor, which represents 36 states total, comes as Congress weighs language, packed in a new defense funding authorization bill, that would prevent states from enforcing their own rules about the technology. A previous measure, which failed, would have established a 10-year moratorium on states writing their own rules. A draft executive order leaked last week would, similarly, push the federal government to punish states for enacting or enforcing these rules.
“If there were real cases to be brought up, they would have brought [them] already,” Alex Bores, the lawmaker who authored New York’s passed, but not-yet-signed AI legislation, the RAISE Act, told Fast Company last week. “The only reason you need an executive order to tell people to look for cases is when you just want to harass states into submission.”
“Every state should be able to enact and enforce its own AI regulations to protect its residents,” New York Attorney General Letitia James, the lead author of the letter, said in a statement. “Certain AI chatbots have been shown to harm our children’s mental health and AI-generated deepfakes are making it easier for people to fall victim to scams. State governments are the best equipped to address the dangers associated with AI.”
The letter comes after state lawmakers wrote to their federal peers not to strip states of their ability to regulate artificial intelligence. Thus far, the federal government has passed major legislation on ensuring model transparency use, AI cybersecurity and safety, or energy use.
For state officials, the concern is that states will be banned from taking their own action on these fronts. Arati Prabhakar, a top tech adviser under the Biden administration, recently called this effort “ludicrous,” since Congress has yet to establish any regulatory regime for AI.
The attorneys general emphasized the importance of defending children from inappropriate relationships with chatbots, including discussions of self-harm, and defending against deepfake-enabled scams. A “moratorium would put us behind by tying states’ hands and failing to keep up with the technology,” they write, arguing that pre-emption prevents states from remaining agile in responding to an emerging technology.