America is hurtling down the tracks like a runaway train in its pursuit of dominance in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Even some of its most prominent developers express concern about the headlong rush to develop ever more powerful, and even dangerous, technology.
In its haste to stay ahead of competition from Communist China, the federal government is ignoring decisions tech companies are making that threaten to create a digital monster – think of it as “FrankenAI” – capable of imposing centralized control over every American, grievously impacting our freedoms, rights and privacy.
Alarmingly, the so-called Big Beautiful Bill that narrowly passed in the House of Representatives in May would greatly compound this potential nightmare. It includes a ten-year prohibition on the enforcement of any state regulations that could protect against FrankenAI.
State-level officials and legislators across the country are rightly outraged by this affront to their state’s rights under the Constitution’s Article 10. Notably, a bipartisan group of 40 state attorneys general have sent a scathing letter to Congress warning against the ban, stating in part:
The impact of such a broad moratorium would be sweeping and wholly destructive of reasonable state efforts to prevent known harms associated with AI….In the absence of federal action to install [needed] oversight, over the years, states have considered and passed legislation to address a wide range of harms associated with AI and automated decision-making.
These include laws designed to protect against AI-generated explicit material, prohibit deep-fakes designed to mislead voters and consumers, protect renters when algorithms are used to set rent, prevent spam phone calls and texts, require basic disclosures when consumers are interacting with specific kinds of AI, and ensure identity protection for endorsements and other AI-generated content.
A bipartisan group of over 260 state lawmakers from all 50 states have also urged Congress to reject the Artificial Intelligence moratorium, stating: “AI will raise some of the most important public policy questions of our time, and it is critical that state policymakers maintain the ability to respond.”
While trying feverishly to keep pace with AI’s technological advances can be rationalized on national security and economic grounds, extreme care must be exercised to preserve our Constitution and the rights it guarantees. In the absence of the federal government providing such oversight, the states must be allowed to do so.
In addition to being problematic from a policy perspective, the House-passed moratorium on states regulating AI violates Senate rules. So, Senator Ted Cruz is proposing an amendment to finesse that problem. This proposed amendment would have the effect of withholding billions of dollars in federal broadband infrastructure funds if states reject the moratorium and continue to protect their citizens against the dangers of AI. Forcing every state to choose between $100 million or more to fund broadband connectivity or protect their citizens from AI-generated harm is coercive, unconstitutional and impermissible.
Both the 10-year moratorium on state AI regulation and the Cruz Amendment should be rejected by the U.S. Senate.
The bottom line is that Artificial Intelligence is promising to give the federal government unprecedentedly expansive – and rapidly expanding – capabilities to track, control and surveil individual citizens. Before it is too late to prevent the abuse of personal sovereignty, privacy, and other individual freedoms sure to follow, rigorous oversight must be brought to bear. And if the federal government is unwilling to play such a role, our states must be able to do so. Absent that constitutional check-and-balance, America’s Golden Age will likely be remembered as America’s (Digital) Gulag Age.
Please join these state officials and legislators and our Sovereignty Coalition in demanding that your Senators reject both the FrankenAI provision and Ted Cruz’s amendment intended to salvage it in the Senate.
RESOURCE LINKS:
AGs’ Letter | https://www.doj.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt721/files/inline-documents/sonh/letter-to-congress-re-proposed-ai-preemption-_final.pdf
260 State Lawmakers | https://statescoop.com/state-lawmakers-push-back-federal-proposal-limit-ai-regulation/