States are moving to regulate AI; employees say AI is one reason work is ‘joyless'
Earlier this month, the Trump administration said a “patchwork of conflicting state laws would undermine American innovation and our ability to lead in the global AI race.”
But on Monday, California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom issued what the state says is a “first-of-its-kind” executive order requiring safety and privacy guardrails for AI companies contracting with the state.
“The battle over who should regulate AI is turning into an epic clash between Mr. Trump and the states, as anxiety has soared over the technology’s potential effects on jobs, education, national security and child safety,” says The New York Times.
States have introduced dozens of bills this year to put guardrails around AI, the Times says. More than 100 state laws ban chatbots for young users, mandate system testing for security risks and protect copyrighted materials from being scraped into AI systems.
In February, the Trump administration issued a warning letter to Utah legislators that derailed an AI transparency and child safety bill. And this month, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis failed to get an AI bill passed after Trump’s opposition to state intervention. In August, Colorado delayed an AI law after criticism from the White House and tech companies.
There have been years of tension between the states and federal government as Congress has failed to pass any laws regulating Big Tech, the Times notes. State legislators say they’ve been forced to take the lead in protecting children and strengthening privacy for consumers of social media.
The debate also has caused tension within the Republican Party, which includes billionaire tech leaders as well as social conservatives and economic populists who worry about the technology’s harms, the Times says.
States started moving to regulate AI soon after OpenAI introduced ChatGPT to the public in November 2022, the Times says.
In September, Newsom signed a bill requiring transparency and safety reporting from the biggest AI companies. Trump pushed back with an executive order in December ordering states to stop passing AI laws or risk being sued by the Justice Department or losing federal funding.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports about a “malaise sweeping office life at American companies, which appear to be in a race to find inefficiencies and cut costs. The curtailing of perks, from offsites to travel, is happening against the backdrop of an artificial intelligence push that employees say seems aimed at squeezing more work out of fewer people.”
Rocco Seyboth, a longtime software marketer outside Seattle, says: “We’re in the AI dread era.”
“Everyone I talked to is consumed by AI — either how to use it, how to pretend to use it, how much they hate using it, how it’s going to eliminate their position or their company’s product,” he says.
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