Virgin Islands Attorney General Gordon C. Rhea has joined a bipartisan coalition of 39 attorneys general urging Congress to reject a proposed budget amendment that would prevent states from regulating artificial intelligence for the next decade, a press release announced Friday.
The letter, spearheaded by the attorneys general of Colorado, Tennessee, New Hampshire, and Vermont, opposes a U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee proposal to prohibit state enforcement of any law or regulation concerning AI and automated decision-making systems, according to the press release.
“As technology evolves, it is crucial that states maintain the ability to protect their citizens from the risks of artificial intelligence,” Rhea said in a press release Friday. “Federal inaction shouldn’t leave consumers unprotected — our laws are essential to ensuring safety and fairness in a rapidly changing landscape.”
The attorneys general argue that state-level safeguards have long been developed through a process of careful deliberation and input from stakeholders, including consumers, industry leaders, and advocates, and must be preserved to respond to the rapid development and potential dangers of AI technology, the press release stated.
While AI offers significant economic and social opportunities, the letter highlights the urgent threats it also poses, including the spread of explicit content, election interference, deception, exploitation, and harassment. Without a robust federal framework to fill the void, the proposed moratorium would leave Americans vulnerable and eliminate state leaders’ ability to act on behalf of their residents, the release stated.
“If enacted, the amendment would strip away essential state protections without replacing them with a viable federal regulatory framework and silence state leaders who are best positioned to respond,” the letter states.
Joining Rhea and the four lead states were attorneys general from jurisdictions including California, New York, Texas, Illinois, and Washington, as well as U.S. territories such as American Samoa and the District of Columbia, the release stated.
The coalition urges Congress to reject the AI moratorium provision currently attached to the budget reconciliation bill, it said.
