NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Tennessee Attorney General is leading a bipartisan letter to Congress pushing back against a federal proposal that would prevent states from regulating artificial intelligence, claiming it would directly harm consumers.

The measure to prohibit states from enforcing AI regulation is included in an amendment to the Republicans' "Big, Beautiful Tax Bill."

The letter was signed by Attorneys General in Tennessee, Colorado, New Hampshire, Vermont, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The proposal would give the federal government sole control of AI regulation, which the AI industry has long lobbied for.

Meanwhile, TN was the first state to pass a bill last year to protect musicians' voices and likenesses from AI, called the ELVIS Act. In addition, lawmakers passed another bill this past legislative session criminalizing deepfakes.

However, Mark Williams, Vanderbilt Law School professor and co-director of Vanderbilt's AI Lab told News 2 the federal government is focused on more than just deepfakes. Some believe the United States needs to master AI to have power over China.

"We're no longer talking about just ChatGPT. We're talking about AI's ability to basically be involved in military, or energy, or computer chips. Just this sort of international global trade scale where competition over being the leaders of the free world," Williams said. "The stakes are getting that big, where the people at the highest levels of government are taking winning at AI that seriously. It's not just about chatbots. It's about the general supremacy of who is going to be the leader of the free world as this technology continues to proliferate."

Williams added the states' idea of regulating AI looks different.

"If you're the Tennessee Attorney General, getting it right for you means protecting residents in Tennessee from these specific use cases that are easier than ever to do," Williams said. "Whereas for the people who are pushing preemption, it means we think AI is important enough as a geopolitical benefit and risk that we can't leave it to the 50 different states to decide what regulation looks like."

Williams doubts the amendment in the bill will pass, but he said it could start a larger conversation about which government, states or federal, should have the ability to regulate AI.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/tennessee-politics/tn-ag-joins-bipartisan-group-opposing-federal-ban-on-state-ai-regulation/