White House ‘AI and crypto czar’ David Sacks discusses President Donald Trump’s executive order on a national artificial intelligence standard on ‘Mornings with Maria.’
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said Monday that state officials have the right to regulate artificial intelligence despite President Trump’s latest executive order seeking to require a national AI standard that the president said would overrule state laws.
Speaking at Florida Atlantic University, DeSantis said Trump’s order does not prevent states from adopting their own AI laws.
“The president issued an executive order. Some people said no, this is preventing the states,” said the governor. “It’s not like that.”
“You have to read it and see. First of all, the executive order cannot stop the states,” he continued. “You can outlaw the states under Article 1 by using congressional legislation on certain issues, but you can’t do it by executive order.”
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said state officials have the right to regulate artificial intelligence despite President Trump’s latest order. (Pedro Portal/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
While the governor said Trump’s order does not preempt state laws, he said Florida’s proposed laws are similar to what the White House wants at the federal level.
“If you read it, they actually say a lot of the things we’re talking about are things they’re encouraging states to do,” DeSantis said. “So even if I study more, I think the things we do will be very similar. But still, it’s clear that we have the right to do this.”
Last week, DeSantis released a proposal for an “Artificial Intelligence Civil Rights Bill” that seeks to protect consumers from potential accidents and injuries caused by AI.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create a national AI standard. (Ken Cedeno/Reuters)
The proposal includes several safeguards, including preventing AI from using a person’s name, image or likeness without their consent, protection against deepfakes and several restrictions aimed at protecting children.
DeSantis also addressed concerns from supporters of Trump’s order who are concerned about AI laws that could be passed by Democratic-led states and the suggestion that the Justice Department could bring legal challenges to an attempt to block state laws under the Dormant Commerce Clause, which prevents states from enacting laws that discriminate against international commerce.
“I don’t know how successful that would be, but the truth is, I don’t think that happens even against what we’re doing in Florida, but if it does, I think we’d be in a good position to overcome that,” DeSantis said.
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Gov. Ron DeSantis said President Donald Trump’s executive order does not prevent states from adopting their own AI laws. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
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GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill have tried to pass proposals to block the country’s AI laws twice in the past six months through Trump’s spending bill over the summer and the National Defense Authorization Act last month. But both efforts failed as lawmakers failed to reach an agreement.
Trump has indicated that it would be burdensome for AI companies to seek approval from all 50 states, a claim that AI companies have also made.
“There must be only one Rulebook if we continue to lead in AI,” the president wrote on social media last week before signing the order. “We are hitting EVERY COUNTRY at this point in the race, but that won’t last long if we have 50 countries, many of them bad actors, affected by the LAWS and the APPROVAL PROCESS.”
