Gov. Ron DeSantis is again pushing back against the idea that a “one rule” executive order from President Donald Trump protecting the artificial intelligence industry will limit Florida from passing laws against the industry.
During a roundtable at Florida Atlantic University, DeSantis said he was confident that much of what he wants to do falls within what is permissible under Trump’s order. And he also believes that the state would prevail if Attorney General Pam Bondi took legal action against Florida for going too far.
“The President issued an executive order, and some people were saying, ‘Well, no, this blocks the states from doing it.’ It doesn’t,” DeSantis said.
“First of all, an executive order can’t block the states. You can preempt states under Article 1 powers through congressional legislation on certain issues, but you can’t do it through executive order. But if you read it, they actually say a lot of the stuff we’re talking about are things that they’re encouraging states to do. They say it doesn’t prevent child safety. It doesn’t prevent any of that stuff. So even reading it very broadly, I think the stuff we’re doing is going to be very consistent. But irrespective, clearly we have a right to do this.”
Trump’s order, issued Thursday, compels Bondi to “establish an AI Litigation Task Force (Task Force) whose sole responsibility shall be to challenge State AI laws inconsistent with the policy set forth in section 2 of this order, including on grounds that such laws unconstitutionally regulate interstate commerce, are preempted by existing Federal regulations, or are otherwise unlawful in the Attorney General’s judgment.”
The goal, per the EO, is to establish “a minimally burdensome national standard — not 50 discordant State ones” to “sustain and enhance the United States’ global AI dominance.”
But DeSantis says that unlike “woke” states like Colorado and California that want to pass their own laws, Florida’s would comport with the guidance from the President, much of which is toothless without legislation.
“I don’t anticipate that even happening against any of the stuff we’re doing in Florida. But if it does, I think we would be well-positioned to be able to prevail on that. So I don’t think that’s going to be a bar for us creating a bill of rights for people and making sure,” he said, seemingly unconcerned about what he called the “dormant Commerce Clause.”
At Monday’s event, DeSantis repeated his concerns about data centers and foreign labor brought in to work at them and power usage, as well as deepfakes and people using images and likenesses falsely, Chinese technology, AI mental health therapy, and protections for consumers and parental rights, including data privacy protections.
“This is basically protecting against this technology running amok,” DeSantis said.
