Lawmaker warns of ‘patchwork’ state AI laws
Rep. Jay Obernolte, a California Republican, warned of a "patchwork" of state laws regulating artificial intelligence if Congress does not step in. Bill Clark via Getty Images
By
Chris Teale
Congress must take the lead on regulating the technology, said Rep. Jay Obernolte during a recent tech conference, otherwise the country risks a repeat of what has happened on data privacy laws.
Congress must take charge in regulating artificial intelligence on a national basis, otherwise the nation risks a “patchwork” of competing state laws, as has happened with data privacy in the absence of federal action, a key lawmaker said this week.
Rep. Jay Obernolte — a California Republican who co-chaired the House Task Force on Artificial Intelligence that issued a lengthy report on how lawmakers should approach the technology late last year — said AI is “very clearly an interstate commerce issue,” so national regulations must take precedence over state laws. Without them, he said, regulatory chaos could ensue.
“If you allow 50 different state regulations to exist, what you have created is an enormous barrier to entry into innovation,” Obernolte said on stage at the State of the Net conference in Washington, D.C. this week. “If you're Google — not to pick on them — they've got buildings full of lawyers; they can actually navigate a regulatory landscape that complex. The people who can't navigate it are two people in a garage trying to start the next Google.”
Lawmakers in state houses throughout the country have proposed hundreds of bills related to AI, with many looking to regulate in areas like consumer protection, deepfakes and how the government uses the technology. Meanwhile, most governors have issued executive orders and other guidance in a bid to regulate their states’ use of AI and to make sure agencies can take full advantage of it in their work.
Those efforts, plus the likelihood of more to follow this year, have created “quite a science fair” in the states, said Abhi Nemani, a former chief data officer for Los Angeles who is now senior vice president of product strategy at software company Euna Solutions. But Congress might feel the need to step in with national regulations to ensure a level of uniformity.
Among its more than 80 unanimously approved recommendations, the bipartisan House task force said Congress should explore federal and state laws that could affect AI’s development and use, and understand where they could preempt state law. The report noted that federal preemption is “complex,” and has both its positives and negatives.
“Federal preemption of state law can bring uniformity and clarity, reduce compliance burdens, and otherwise implement Congress’ policy objectives,” the report says. “However, state-level regulation has the advantages of flexibility, customization to different state populations, preservation of state authority, and experimentation that provides information relevant to policy choices.”
Preemption could allow Congress to set a floor or ceiling for state laws, whether that be through meeting federal minimum standards or not exceeding federal maximum standards. But the House report said preemption could be “extremely multifaceted,” meaning the federal government could choose to preempt some state laws but not others.
Congressional inaction could lead to chaos, however. Obernolte drew the parallel to data privacy legislation, which has failed to gain traction at the federal level despite widespread public support and bipartisan efforts in both chambers. In the absence of a federal data privacy law, state after state has passed their own and led to compliance headaches for businesses as they navigate different frameworks.
“We absolutely cannot allow that to happen on AI,” Obernolte said. “We need to get moving because, frankly, you're seeing these states act to fill the void that we've left on AI regulation at the federal level. We need to give people the confidence that Congress is capable of acting on this issue.”
Already, federal lawmakers have introduced several bills that deal with at least some aspect of AI, with more likely to follow. And in the states, the National Conference of State Legislatures said work will continue on AI given lawmakers’ interest in the impact the technology could have and is already having.
Congress must act, Obernolte said, or else the current trend of state laws will only accelerate. “We can't preempt something with nothing, so we need to give states that confidence,” he said.