A look at AI companies' lobbying push, as well as the GOP's pitch, for the amendment to ban state-level AI regulation, added to the budget reconciliation bill
Inside the effort to de-democratize AI — Today, we dive deep into the GOP's radical campaign to ban US states from passing any laws that govern AI.
The proposal was not a consensus industry or partisan position: state officials and consumer advocates mounted opposition soon afterward. That conflict makes the fight consequential not only for AI policy, but for which level of government gets to set enforceable rules first.
First-order effects
AI companies backing the amendment gain a vehicle to seek a single federal barrier against state AI laws, while state legislatures and attorneys general face the prospect of losing authority to enact or enforce such rules.
The reconciliation bill becomes a venue for an AI-governance decision that would otherwise be debated through standalone regulation, concentrating the immediate fight among congressional negotiators, lobbyists, and state officials.
Second-order effects
A federal ban would reduce the leverage of states pursuing AI-specific safeguards and shift advocacy pressure toward Congress and federal agencies; opponents would have fewer state-level routes to test policy responses.
The lobbying alignment exposes divisions among AI firms, state officials, and Republicans, making a uniform industry position harder to sustain even as large platforms seek preemption.
Third-order effects
If federal preemption becomes the preferred route for AI policy, AI governance could move from state-led experimentation toward a more centralized framework whose protections depend on federal action rather than local enforcement.
The episode points to AI regulation becoming a contest over jurisdiction as much as model safety or bias: the durability of any national approach will depend on whether it supplies rules that states and public-interest groups consider adequate.
The trend: AI policy is increasingly being shaped by a federal-preemption battle over whether states can act as independent regulators of high-impact AI systems.
A super informative deep dive into the GOP's assault on state regulations of AI (and importantly, other “automated decision systems"), including a revealing interview with California assembly member @ib2real.bsky.social. I was really hoping for a piece like this because I felt b…
This, of course, is ridiculous. But it underlines the way that both Silicon Valley and the GOP are increasingly uninterested in rules, feedback, democracy. — This ban of state AI lawmaking is the latest volley.
“If this amendment passes, not a single state in America could protect people from AI systems that unfairly deny their medical care, keep their nursing homes understaffed, revoke their unemployment benefits, or inflate their rent.” [embedded post]
Typically, you can't pass blanket laws in reconciliation—because of the Byrd Rule, those bills need to affect spending. — But the GOP plans on arguing that state regulation of AI might make AI that they're planning to use in federal agencies more expensive—and therefore it's a …
I also spoke with the GOP's energy and commerce office to learn how they plan to sell this monstrosity—surprise, it's a combination of AI race with China fearmongering and handouts to the tech industry.
So, for this week's newsletter, I spoke with Assemblyman Isaac Bryan, the author of a California bill that seeks to prevent workplace surveillance abuses in AI—one of the bills Silicon Valley and the GOP hope to crush. — I look at why they're eager to take this explicitly anti-…
This week, the GOP slid an amendment into the budget reconciliation process that would ban US states from enacting laws that govern AI. — This of course was not an aberration—it's the direct result of Silicon Valley lobbying efforts, and big tech's union with Trump and the Repu…
I'm not sure how you read this paragraph from @bcmerchant.bsky.social today and reach the conclusion that AI/GenAI is something you should be welcoming into your teaching and asking students to embrace as ~the future of learning~ Read the post at: www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/de- …