WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans modified language around a controversial artificial intelligence provision in President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and domestic policy bill after it prompted backlash from both Democrats and Republicans.
AI has long been a subject of controversy due to national security and child safety risks posed by the technology, including the rise of deepfakes, misinformation and scams. The Trump administration’s stance on AI has largely aligned with that of companies, arguing that regulation would stymie innovation. But the provision in the bill has been a point of contention among lawmakers as many contend that AI technology is still new and needs to be under state regulation.
The provision in the House bill passed by the lower chamber on May 22 would have prohibited states from enforcing any law or regulation “limiting, restricting, or otherwise regulating” AI models, AI systems or automated decision systems affecting trade, transportation or traffic for a ten year period.
Republicans on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, however, released their draft text of Trump’s bill on June 5 proposing to tie the ban to federal funding. States who comply with the decade-long AI regulation freeze can receive grant money from the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment program.
The program is a $42.45 billion initiative to expand high-speed Internet access nationwide, according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. The Senate proposal says that grantees can use the funds to “construct and deploy infrastructure” regarding AI systems.
The Senate proposal is a large step away from the original provision, which lawmakers across the aisle raised concerns about.
Conservative firebrand Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she wouldn’t have voted for the House bill if she’d known about it. “We have no idea what AI will be capable of in the next 10 years and giving it free rein and tying states hands is potentially dangerous,” she wrote in a tweet on June 3.
California Democrat Rep. Ted Lieu, vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said at a presser on June 4: “I agree with Marjorie Taylor Greene once every hundred years. This is that time.”
Texas Rep. Greg Casar, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, argued that “writing big tech companies a blank check to exploit AI however they want – that’s contrary to what the vast majority of American people want.”
Though House Freedom Caucus member Texas Rep. Chip Roy voted in favor of the bill, he echoed similar sentiments, telling reporters that governors should be able to “protect their own constituencies, particularly on a technology that is very new and fluid.”
It still remains to be seen whether the proposal will be included in the final version of the Senate bill before it is voted on by lawmakers. Trump and GOP leaders have set a self-imposed deadline of July 4 to try to get the tax bill through both chambers of Congress and to the president’s desk for signature into law.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Senate GOP propose alternative to AI provision in Trump bill
