begin quote:
From Steve Bannon to Elizabeth Warren, backlash erupts over push to block states from regulating AI
From Steve Bannon to Elizabeth Warren, bipartisan backlash erupts over push to block states from regulating AI
New efforts this week in Washington to effectively ban individual states from governing artificial intelligence have provoked bipartisan backlash.
The push from House Republicans and the White House to assert federal control over AI regulation, which echoes a similar attempt over the summer, has forged new lines of agreement between far-right commentators and progressive activists.
“It’s a coalition of almost everyone against a few extreme tech billionaires who are trying to buy unfettered power,” said New York State Assembly Member Alex Bores, a proponent of states’ ability to govern AI and a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House. “States protecting our citizens is overwhelmingly popular and bipartisan.”
A new poll released Friday night, conducted by YouGov in partnership with the conservative-leaning Institute for Family Studies, found that surveyed adults opposed congressional pre-emption efforts on AI by a 3-to-1 margin.
Bores is a co-author of New York’s RAISE Act, which looks to impose safety-monitoring and evaluation requirements on some of America’s largest AI companies, among other measures. The act has passed the state Legislature and is awaiting New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signature.
The current push for federal AI pre-emption efforts, so called because they would pre-empt or prohibit states’ ability to regulate AI, kicked off early this week.
On Monday, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., told Punchbowl News that he and Republican leaders were considering introducing legislation overriding states’ ability to legislate AI into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Amendments unrelated to national defense are often attached to the bill, as lawmakers view the NDAA as must-pass legislation and use it to include measures that would otherwise face stiffer opposition.
The move provoked immediate pushback, with Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, writing on X Monday night that the bill “is a poison pill and we will block it.”
On Tuesday, however, President Donald Trump came out in support of the effort on Truth Social: “Investment in AI is helping to make the U.S. Economy the ‘HOTTEST’ in the World — But overregulation by the States is threatening to undermine this Growth Engine.”
Endorsing a ban on state AI regulation, Trump wrote: “Put it in the NDAA, or pass a separate Bill, and nobody will ever be able to compete with America.”
Prominent proponents of federal pre-emption efforts include White House AI czar David Sacks and several Silicon Valley venture capital backers. Sacks reposted Trump’s comment on X Tuesday night.
Marc Andreesen, co-founder of venture capital mainstay Andreesen Horowitz, followed up on Sacks’ post, writing on X Tuesday night: “A 50-state patchwork is a startup killer. Federal AI legislation is essential.”
Yet several hours later, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis denounced the efforts to prevent states from passing laws governing AI. Writing on X, DeSantis argued that federal pre-emption “takes away our sovereignty” and that “sneaking it into the defense bill is an insult to voters.”
The federal pre-emption efforts have also triggered stiff opposition from Republicans’ populist MAGA flank. On his “War Room” podcast Wednesday, influential MAGA whisperer Steve Bannon criticized the moves and advocated for sensible AI regulations. “They’re trying to slip this into another 9,000 page, must-pass NDAA, that they don’t want to have a discussion about, in the dark of night,” he said.
Bannon said individuals seeking “a license to do nails up here on Capitol Hill” currently face more regulation than America’s powerful AI companies.
No comments:
Post a Comment