Preemption would bar states from enacting safeguards on data, health care, security, and more for a decade
On Sunday night, the House Energy and Commerce Committee released text for the tax and budget reconciliation bill, including a provision that would preempt any state legislation regulating artificial intelligence. The proposed bill places a decade-long moratorium on the enforcement of “any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems,” with a handful of exemptions. The provision is likely to face challenges in the Senate where a procedural rule known as the Byrd Rule limits the inclusion of extraneous provisions in reconciliation bills.
“Tying the hands of lawmakers when it comes to taking on big tech could have catastrophic consequences for the public, for small businesses, and for young people online,” said ARI President Brad Carson. “Lawmakers stalled on social media safeguards for a decade and we are still dealing with the fallout. Now apply those same harms to technology moving as fast as AI. Without first passing significant federal rules for AI, banning state lawmakers from taking action just doesn’t make sense. Ultimately, the move to ban AI safeguards is a giveaway to Big Tech that will come back to bite us.”
Recent polling from Pew shows that three times as many US adults are concerned that the US government won’t go far enough in regulating AI compared to those who say they worry the government will go too far.
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Americans for Responsible Innovation (ARI) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to policy advocacy in the public interest, focused on emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). Learn more at www.ari.us.