Ron DeSantis Proposes AI Invoice of Rights as Trump Says He’ll Kill State AI Legal guidelines

Donald Trump said on Truth Social this morning that he plans to signal an government order that can preempt any and all state rules on AI, which was apparently information to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who simply final week announced a proposal to ascertain an AI Invoice of Rights for Floridians and introduce protections for communities the place AI information facilities are being constructed.

DeSantis’s Invoice of Rights would set up a number of protections that mirror what different states like California have performed, together with requiring corporations to inform a shopper when they’re interacting with a chatbot, prohibiting corporations from utilizing an individual’s likeness with out consent, and limiting corporations from sharing person info with third events. The invoice additionally hits on some extra conservative-aligned issues, as properly, like banning any native authorities from utilizing “Chinese language-created AI instruments” like DeepSeek.

Two particular industries additionally get a call-out in DeSantis’ proposal: psychological well being companies and insurance coverage suppliers. The invoice of rights would prohibit any licensed therapist or psychological well being counselor from utilizing AI and bar AI imitations of a licensed skilled. It might additionally restrict the flexibility of insurance coverage corporations to make use of AI for claims, stopping them from counting on AI as the only determiner in adjusting or denying a declare.

In a separate proposal, the Florida governor additionally launched potential protections for Floridians who might have an information middle as a neighbor. Most notably, the proposal would prohibit utilities from charging residents extra on their vitality payments to assist hyperscale information facilities. It’d additionally prohibit taxpayer subsidies flowing to Massive Tech corporations establishing store within the Swamp State, give native governments extra capability to dam undesirable initiatives, and stop the development of information facilities on agricultural lands or nature reserves. It additionally slips in an obvious ban on the development or operation of information facilities by “overseas principals.”

All of that sounds, frankly, fairly stable! It was adequate to piss off the individuals on the distinguished conservative suppose tank the American Enterprise Institute, which accused DeSantis of “drifting towards the regulatory reflexes” of blue states, and on the center-right R Road Institute, which accused Florida’s governor of “opening the door to let Gavin Newsom and Zohran Mamdani run America’s AI market and decimate our nation’s capability to counter Chinese language advances within the rising AI Chilly Warfare.”

DeSantis will even discover President Trump on the other aspect of this struggle. Trump mentioned he will likely be introducing “One Rulebook” for AI, which might be learn as lastly passing a federal framework or (extra doubtless) may imply he’ll lastly give the AI trade what it has been asking for and try to ban states from passing AI rules. There are some similarities on this case to Trump’s dealing with of healthcare, which includes continuously threatening to repeal the Reasonably priced Care Act due to its shortcomings, whereas having nothing ready within the wings to interchange it. Technically, banning states from having their very own guidelines does create a single rulebook, nevertheless it simply has no guidelines in it.

The AI battle has brought about some rifts throughout the MAGA motion, most notably being one of the areas of disagreement that ultimately pushed Marjorie Taylor Greene out. And whereas it’s laborious to think about a struggle over state-level rules can be sufficient to separate the social gathering, there’s definitely a begin of a tear within the cloth. DeSantis looks as if he is perhaps able to preserve pulling the place it’s threadbare.