Posted on 07/01/2025 3:40:49 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
WASHINGTON (AP) — A proposal to deter states from regulating artificial intelligence for a decade was soundly defeated in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, thwarting attempts to insert the measure into President Donald Trump’s big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts.
The Senate voted 99-1 to strike the AI provision from the legislation after weeks of criticism from both Republican and Democratic governors and state officials.
Originally proposed as a 10-year ban on states doing anything to regulate AI, lawmakers later tied it to federal funding so that only states that backed off on AI regulations would be able to get subsidies for broadband internet or AI infrastructure.
A last-ditch Republican effort to save the provision would have reduced the time frame to five years and sought to exempt some favored AI laws, such as those protecting children or country music performers from harmful AI tools.
But that effort was abandoned when Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, teamed up with Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington on Monday night to introduce an amendment to strike the entire proposal.
Blackburn said on the floor that “it is frustrating” that Congress has been unable to legislate on emerging technology, including online privacy and AI-generated “deepfakes” that impersonate an artist’s voice or visual likeness. “But you know who has passed it? It is our states,” Blackburn said. “They’re the ones that are protecting children in the virtual space. They’re the ones that are out there protecting our entertainers — name, image, likeness — broadcasters, podcasters, authors.”
Voting on the amendment happened after 4 a.m. Tuesday as part of an overnight session as Republican leaders sought to secure support for the tax cut bill...
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Although, it’s not an issue that gets much attention, Senator Blackburn is mostly protecting Nashville. Big music industry that could be severely affected by AI.
Excellent... It was insanity...
The never-ending effort to usurp authority from the States.
Why is any regulation needed for AI? Let alone 50 states deciding how to do it. There is nothing that can happen with AI that isn’t all ready covered by our various laws.
What this usually means is that there will be 50 state lobbying groups and a trial lawyer bonanza.
The law would have exempted AI companies from all liability for harm caused to anyone by their product for ten years, just like the deal they gave the pharmaceutical companies except the pharmaceutical companies got it into perpetuity.
Do you support AI companies doing anything they want to you with no recourse by you?
Did you hear about this?
Australia described children using AI to create sexually explicit images of peers, which were then used for bullying
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-16/esafety-commisioner-warns-ai-safety-must-improve/102733628
“Why is any regulation needed for AI?”
The real question is why did the AI tech companies go out of their way to ask Congress to give them complete across the board blanket absolute legal immunity for ten years BEFORE THE FACT?
This means two things. They are up to no good and/or they do not even have confidence in their own product. So they want zero restrictions on how they use it and zero liability if it causes harm.
This would be like passing a law that gives the whole auto repair industry absolute immunity from shady practices and any liability that results from those shady practices.
No civil suits, no local state regulation, no criminal charges, nothing. Absolutely no recourse at all. Why would we even do this for ANY industry across the board like that? It would be a license to steal and commit fraud as they like. It is a universal get out of jail free card.
And since they are incorporating AI into EVERYTHING this is a huge issue. Healthcare, Education, Insurance, Finances, whole traffic control systems, self driving vehicles, everywhere they can implement it. It will literally be ruling our lives in every aspect whether we want it or not.
So why would we give them complete legal immunity with no recourse or liability before they even start this agenda? Why would they even ASK for this immunity up front? It would be absolutely stupid to do this for ANY industry no matter what it is.
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