State AGs call for federal AI regs without further ado; Big Tech insider suspects cynical motives behind AI doomsday warnings
Some 26 attorneys general have signed onto an initiative urging Congress to federally regulate the AI industry “immediately.”
As healthcare is one of the fastest-growing adopters of AI—a distinction that carries ramifications for Americans at the population level—it goes without saying that the sector is top of mind for the signatories.
The coalition of 26, led by New York AG Letitia James, sent a letter Sept. 23 to leaders of both chambers (House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer).
“The stakes have never been higher to ensure that AI agents cannot enact grave harms,” James and co-signers assert in the letter. “If AI labs cannot prevent their models from conducting harmful and illegal activity, allowing them to release their models into the hands of bad actors only guarantees catastrophe.”
Federal action ‘urgently needed’
Encouraging the Capitol Hill bosses to reprise their work regulating transportation systems, national security, and scientific and technical fields, the state AGs list six items they consider regulatory or legislative must-haves:
- Mandatory federal oversight of safety testing and standards, led by experts in the field of AI model safety, selected by and under the direction of federal regulators, and backed by consistent performance benchmarks.
- Uniform and transparent government-led incident response, where investigators have a broad mandate and direct access to books and records, with public findings that allow the industry to rapidly evolve in response.
- Mandatory safety infrastructure and experienced leaders to make critical safety decisions unburdened by profit maximization.
- International cooperation to pace AI advancement and prevent the development of harmful superintelligence.
- Safeguards to ensure that regulation does not undermine competition or provide cover for companies to evade their obligations under existing antitrust laws.
- Explicit preservation of state authority by prohibiting the preemption of state laws and granting state officials full authority to enforce these federal protections.
“We are actively working to hold AI labs accountable under our respective state laws—including fairness obligations and AI-specific safety requirements—and we will continue to do so,” the letter concludes. “But federal action is urgently needed to achieve the national and international coordination required to prevent catastrophic harm.”
Bipartisan albeit lopsided roster
Joining Attorney General James in signing and sending the letter to Congress are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia and American Samoa.
Of the 26 signatories, all but four serve in states (or, in the case of American Samoa, a U.S. territory) currently headed by Democrat governors.
AI agents have ‘shocked the nation’
The office of New York AG James publicized the Congressional lobbying effort in a Sept. 24 news release.
“In recent weeks, alarming reports of AI agents breaking containment have shocked the nation,” James says in the release. “My colleagues and I are calling on Congress to act swiftly to establish a regulatory framework for AI development to ensure this does not continue.”
A skeptical tech titan
One of the voices countering the call for federal AI regulation is coming from inside the Big Tech arena.
In a Sept. 15 interview with Jesse Watters of Fox News, tech billionaire Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of Palantir—an active supporter of conservative causes—dismissed AI doomsday predictions as nonsensical.
“There’s lots of risks and there’s lots of upside, but I think the doomer narratives are ridiculous,” Lonsdale told Watters. “[It’s the] same thing they did with climate change and killer bees. These guys just want power and money.”
Lonsdale has also suggested the current hand-wringing over an impending AI apocalypse is driven by cynical motives like shifting the legal risks of innovation from AI companies to taxpayers via the government and helping progressive players lock up control of American AI.
See the Watters-Lonsdale interview here.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.