White House Univeils AI Legislative Plan for Skeptical Congress

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(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump released a national framework for regulating artificial intelligence on Friday, laying the groundwork for Congress to create a federal standard for the rapidly growing technology.

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The framework, which builds upon Trump’s December executive order, calls for online safeguards for children, less stringent permitting requirements so data centers can generate power on site and preventing censorship. The latter provision is meant to address allegations by conservatives that technology companies are biased against their views, which the firms have denied. 

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It also calls for intellectual property rights protections, removing “outdated barriers to innovation” and expanding AI workforce training. 

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It’s unclear whether the White House proposal will muster enough support on Capitol Hill, where mandates on tech companies have divided Republicans. 

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The framework mirrors much of a draft measure released by Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican. Her plan also calls for protecting consumers from electricity price spikes. Trump has pushed tech giants, including Amazon.com Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Google parent Alphabet Inc., to work with the federal government to ensure corporations cover the cost of power they use for AI initiatives.

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Such legislation would need the support of Democrats to pass the Senate. That would require political compromise ahead of the November midterm elections, in which Democrats are optimistic about taking control of Congress and therefore may be reluctant to strike a deal with Republicans.

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Earlier: Trump Signs Order Seeking to Limit State-Level AI Regulation 

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AI stands to be a divisive issue in the midterms, with tech executives and companies pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into races to elect friendly members of Congress. But the technology faces backlash from some voters concerned about the rapid development of data centers in their communities, the electricity use and environmental costs of those centers, potential job losses from AI and possible new vulnerabilities for their personal information.

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Washington has struggled to regulate emerging technologies for decades, with the tools developing at a far more rapid pace than lawmakers can pass legislation.

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Trump has used executive authority to cajole tech and AI firms to ensure that the US has enough power to fuel energy-hungry data centers. He has championed the use of coal-fired plants, along with natural gas and nuclear power to help fuel the boom.

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He has taken an interest in establishing what the White House has described as “American dominance” in AI. The president unveiled a White House action plan last July for US technology manufacturing — including of high-powered semiconductors necessary for AI. He’s also enacted security measures to ensure that competitors such as China do not gain an edge.

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As AI development has expanded, states have moved to pass their own rules intended to mitigate threats posed by the emerging technology, such as algorithmic discrimination and unauthorized deepfakes. 

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The White House, with the support of the tech companies, has sought to preempt the patchwork of state-by-state laws that have emerged in the absence of national AI regulation, arguing that local measures have become excessive and stymie growth. 

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—With assistance from Oma Seddiq, John Harney and Hadriana Lowenkron.

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