A mix of Democratic and Republican state attorneys on Friday called on Congress to reject a moratorium on regulating artificial intelligence included in US President Donald Trump’s tax bill.
Top attorneys representing 40 states signed a letter urging leaders in Congress to reject the AI regulation moratorium language added to the budget reconciliation bill.
“The impact of such a broad moratorium would be sweeping and wholly destructive of reasonable state efforts to prevent known harms associated with AI,” the letter states.
“This bill will affect hundreds of existing and pending state laws passed and considered by both Republican and Democratic state legislatures.”
The amendment added by the House Energy and Commerce Committee to the budget reconciliation bill imposes a 10-year prohibition on states from enforcing any state regulation addressing AI or “automated decision-making systems,” according to the state attorneys.
“The amendment added to the reconciliation bill abdicates federal leadership and mandates that all states abandon their leadership in this area as well,” the state attorneys general wrote.
“This bill does not propose any regulatory scheme to replace or supplement the laws enacted or currently under consideration by the states, leaving Americans entirely unprotected from the potential harms of AI.”
The letter notes that states have put in place laws designed to protect against AI-generated porn, deepfakes intended to mislead voters, and spam calls or text messages.
