News & Insights

Technology firms are urging the administration to create a federal artificial intelligence framework following Congress’ removal from the recently passed budget bill of a 10-year moratorium on state AI laws (The Wall Street Journal, subscription).

What’s going on: “Tech industry insiders are lobbying for nationwide regulations that pre-empt a jumble of state laws … in part to simplify compliance with a single set of requirements,” according to one tech leader.

• California, Texas, Colorado and Utah have passed AI legislation, and an additional 15 states are considering similar laws.
• Almost “every state has adopted privacy and data-security legislation that touches on AI in some way, lawyers say.”

Manufacturers’ take: Large companies have indicated their willingness to comply with AI laws, with manufacturers backing national regulation.

• AI regulations at the federal level would “establish consistent standards and promote the secure, fair development of AI,” an Amazon spokesperson told the Journal. “We will continue to work with legislators at both the federal and state level to ensure any regulation drives standards that support U.S. leadership on AI.”

The “patchwork” problem: The creation of 50 different, often-conflicting rules will limit manufacturers’ ability to operate and innovate, as they have told Congress repeatedly.

• The NAM, which advocated for a decade-long pause on state-level AI regulations, told the Senate last month that the moratorium would “support AI innovation and American AI leadership by protecting manufacturers from a [50]-state patchwork of conflicting, and potentially stifling, AI laws and regulations. … [M]anufacturers need a policy and regulatory framework that … streamlines compliance to enable rather than hinder manufacturers’ development and adoption of AI systems.”

More to comply with: Technology companies with global reach must now also comply with the stringent EU Artificial Intelligence Act, which took effect earlier this year and “aims to control runaway AI development.”

Ongoing advocacy: The NAM continues to advocate for “the importance of a light-touch regulatory framework to support the development and use of artificial intelligence” at the federal level, including eschewing AI-specific regulations to address challenges that are not AI-specific and instead rely on technology-neutral laws, as NAM Managing Vice President of Policy Charles Crain told the House in May.