Legislation sought by Gov. Ron DeSantis to curb potential overreaches in artificial intelligence has been filed in the Senate.
Republican Sen. Tom Leek’s bill (SB 482) proposes a number of changes to combat what DeSantis calls an “age of darkness and deceit,” including banning governmental agencies from contracting with AI companies controlled, owned or governed by countries of concern.
Leek’s legislation seeks to protect parental rights regarding AI. Children would not be allowed to communicate with chatbots without parental authorization if this bill becomes law. Chatbots would also have to disclose being artificial intelligence, and programmers would have to ensure that adult materials are not accessed by children.
The legislation would confer other rights, including warning people when they are communicating with AI chatbots rather than human beings, and whether identifying data or biometric data is being exposed.
Additionally, the proposal would ban using AI to appropriate name, image and likeness of nonconsenting people for commercial purposes, as well as for fraud, identity theft and cyber bullying.
It also addresses political advertising, saying that it must be declared when AI is used to craft the ads.
The legislation has emerged after President Donald Trump issued a “one rule” executive order to protect artificial intelligence from state laws.
DeSantis has said he’s not worried about the order as it “doesn’t/can’t preempt state legislative action.”
DeSantis has decried overstretched stock market valuations for “Mag 7” companies Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla, all of which are in the AI space. He has also suggested the “Founding Fathers” would hate the technology, and argued it will be used to perpetuate fraud.
