WASHINGTON, D.C. (Sovereignty Coalition) — America is hurtling down the tracks like a runaway train in its pursuit of dominance in artificial intelligence (AI). Even some of its most prominent developers express concern about the headlong rush to develop ever more powerful, and even dangerous, technology.
In its haste to stay ahead of competition from Communist China, the federal government is ignoring decisions tech companies are making that threaten, in the wrong hands, to use AI to create a “Digital Gulag” capable of imposing centralized control over every American, grievously impacting our freedoms, rights, and privacy. Ironically, in our race against China, we are in danger of building our own Chinese-style Social Credit System.
Alarmingly, the so-called Big Beautiful Bill that narrowly passed in the House of Representatives in May would greatly compound this potential nightmare. It includes an amendment that would enact a 10-year prohibition on the enforcement of any state regulations that could protect against the dangers of runaway AI.
State-level officials and legislators across the country are rightly outraged by this affront to their state’s rights under the Constitution’s Article 10. Notably, a bipartisan group of 40 state attorneys general have sent a scathing letter to Congress.
In addition, a bipartisan group of over 260 state lawmakers from all 50 states have also urged Congress to reject the Artificial Intelligence moratorium, stating: “AI will raise some of the most important public policy questions of our time, and it is critical that state policymakers maintain the ability to respond.”
In addition to being problematic from a policy perspective, the House-passed moratorium on states regulating AI violates Senate rules. So, Senator Ted Cruz has proposed an amendment to finesse that problem. This proposed amendment will have the effect of withholding billions of dollars in federal broadband infrastructure funds if states reject the moratorium and continue to protect their citizens against the dangers of AI. Forcing every state to choose between $100 million or more to fund broadband connectivity or protect their citizens from AI-generated harm is coercive, unconstitutional, and impermissible.
Reggie Littlejohn, president of Anti-Globalist International and Women’s Rights Without Frontiers and co-founder of the Sovereignty Coalition, which is spearheading this initiative, stated: “The power of AI is progressing much faster than our ability to control it, or even to understand its dangers. Potential AI-generated hazards include the risk of privacy violations, cyberattacks, data breaches, deepfake technology, lack of transparency, surveillance and profiling, and built-in bias. The States have the right, and indeed the obligation, to protect their citizens from these dangers, which, in the wrong hands, could usher in a “Digital Gulag” similar to the China Social Credit System. In our haste to beat China, we must not become China.”
The vote on the Cruz Amendment could take place this week. Both the 10-year moratorium on state AI regulation and the Cruz Amendment should be rejected.
Take action HERE to inform your senators of the urgent need to reject both the 10-year moratorium on state regulation of AI, as well as Ted Cruz’s amendment intended to salvage it in the Senate.
Republished with permission from the Sovereignty Coalition.
