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The AI Safety Dance
Earlier this week, the President released an executive order, “Promoting Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Security.” The order includes a voluntary process for AI developers to submit new models for the federal government to review before public release. Other elements of the executive order focus on federal agencies' cybersecurity defenses. The original draft of the order required government-led evaluations.
On the same day, OpenAI released a report stating that the US needs to shape global AI governance. The report acknowledges that the President’s recent AI executive order is a good start, but urges that a focus on safety must go beyond voluntary evaluations. Also, the report highlights that the federal government should look to new state laws focused on AI safety (California, New York RAISE, and Illinois’ SB 315) to create a federal standard. At the same time, OpenAI issued a global call to action on youth AI safety and identified the G7 Leaders’ Summit in France later this month as the best opportunity for leaders to coordinate globally on this issue.
Meanwhile, yesterday Anthropic presented evidence that AI is becoming more capable every day and warned that that AI may soon be able to build its own successors. Alongside the warning and imagining potential scenarios, the company called for a collective slowdown or pause in AI development and stated its intention to convene policymakers, researchers, civil society, and other AI companies to answer questions about the future of AI and to better coordinate and deliberate together.
State Policy Action
CO: Early this week, the Governor signed a new AI chatbot law. The new law (HB 1263) requires disclosures when a consumer is chatting with an AI system and prohibits the AI system from representing itself as a medical or mental health professional, lawyer, or dietitian. If the chatbot interacts with someone under 18, certain types of content are prohibited. The Governor vetoed a bill (HB 1210) that would have prohibited AI algorithms from using consumers' data to set prices for consumer goods or wages. In the letter explaining why he rejected the bill, he noted the new law is too broad, would discourage discounts on consumer goods, and is duplicative of the new AI law he recently signed.
IL: The Illinois General Assembly adjourned this week and recently passed three notable bills, awaiting the Governor’s signature.
A governor-backed bill (HB 5511) focuses on children’s online safety by requiring age verification to access digital applications, limiting content in feeds, limiting notifications, and setting stricter privacy settings for minors.
Another bill (SB 315) focuses on the safety, transparency, and oversight of the development of the largest and most capable AI models. Developers must align with an AI framework, report safety incidents, protect whistleblowers, and require third-party audits.
LA: Last week, the Governor signed (SB 386) a comprehensive data privacy law. The new law allows consumers to access, correct, and delete their data and requires consent for the collection of sensitive data. The new law also requires data protection assessments.
MA: Yesterday, the House passed a comprehensive data privacy bill focused on consumer protections, children, sensitive data, and location data.
MD: Last week, the Governor signed the "Artificial Intelligence Ready Schools Act,” a multi-pronged AI and education law. The state department is required to provide guidance on AI use to school districts, support for evaluating AI tools, and AI professional development. The bill also establishes the Maryland AI Collaborative on AI in K-12 Schools to study the use of AI in schools and update content standards to include AI. The Governor also announced a new AI innovation lab within the Department of Information Technology to help state agencies test and adopt AI tools.
NY: Last week, the Governor signed the state’s budget bill, which included online protections for minors, such as increased privacy settings. Two other youth-focused AI bills passed the New York State Legislature. The first bill prohibits companies from allowing minors to access AI chatbots with specific harmful features, and a different bill prohibits AI-enabled toys from being sold for 5 years while a task force studies their risks.
VT: The Vermont General Assembly passed a comprehensive consumer privacy law (SB 71). The law requires data security practices, consent for the sale of sensitive data, and specific considerations for minor users.
The U.S. Commerce Department is expanding its’ AI Safety Consortium by renaming the group and putting out a call for new members. The new NIST Artificial Intelligence Consortium calls for members to join them to focus on AI evaluation, innovation and adoption by submitting a letter of interest.
Last week, the American Federation of Teachers released a 10-point plan to boost student learning and success in the age of AI. A few of the points focused on younger students, such as limiting screen time until 3rd grade and limiting AI tools in elementary school. You can watch a speech on the new plan from AFT’s President here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqFat47RjHM
AARP
American Legislative Exchange Council
Common Sense Media’s Youth AI Safety Institute
Microsoft
Stanford University, California Partners Project, Family Online Safety Institute
U.S. Government Accountability Office
World Health Organization
A Vermont Senator announced this week his intent to introduce legislation to create a sovereign wealth fund so U.S. citizens can benefit from AI-growth, pointing to Alaska’s sovereign wealth fund that distributes funds to citizens from state oil revenues as an example.
Some states are looking to collect taxes on digital advertising.
AFT’s 10-point AI and Education action plan includes a call for a “tech tax” on business earnings and operations, in contrast to the Senator’s plan for a one-time tax on stock.
The Cato Institute presents counterpoints to the government owning a piece of AI companies stating the US government would have a hard time being a neutral regulator.
Tech Policy & Governance Jobs
Company/Organization: | Title: | Closing Date: |
|---|---|---|
Foundation for American Innovation | Ongoing | |
Anthropic | Ongoing | |
Federation of American Scientists | Ongoing | |
New York State Department of Health | 06/10/26 | |
The Alliance for Secure AI Action | Ongoing |
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Disclosure: This is a human-written and driven publication. As a small business owner and mighty team of 1, I use AI tools to optimize my small business operations as a part of my admin tech stack. Regarding this publication, AI is mainly used to help with catchy titles, as a thesaurus when writing and a partner when creating cartoons. (Thanks, Canva, and not an ad!) As a secret doodler, I add my human touch using my digital pad and pen. I also use Grammarly, with AI built in, to help with copy editing/grammar check (again, mighty team of one!) Thanks for reading. 😊
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