AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Unlike in Congress right now, Republicans and Democrats and state capitals agree on some major issues this year. In many places, lawmakers want to regulate the many ways companies and people use artificial intelligence, and they want to curb the sprawling, electricity-hungry data centers that make AI possible in the first place. To talk about some of the big trends this legislative season, we're joined by Samuel King with WXXI and the New York Public News Network in Albany and Regan McCarthy of WFSU in Tallahassee, Florida. Welcome.
REGAN MCCARTHY, BYLINE: Hi, thank you.
SAMUEL KING, BYLINE: Great to be here.
RASCOE: Starting with AI, Regan, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is a Republican who's often aligned with President Trump, but it seems like not necessarily on AI. What's DeSantis been doing as the session gets going there?
MCCARTHY: Yeah. So DeSantis has unveiled what he's calling an AI bill of rights, and several parts of that plan have just passed in the Florida Senate. And that proposal includes making it illegal to use a person's name, image or likeness without their consent. It also includes protections for kids, like requiring parental consent before minors can engage with companion chatbots and requiring the bots to remind people that they aren't human. And so, as you mentioned, this is an area where President Trump and DeSantis may be headed in different directions. Trump issued an executive order trying to limit what states can do about AI on their own. DeSantis worries giving AI companies a free pass could be dangerous.
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RON DESANTIS: I really fear that if this is not addressed in an intelligent and proper way, you know, it could set off an age of darkness and deceit.
MCCARTHY: So almost every state has a proposal to regulate AI, and some examples include making sure humans oversee decisions AI makes about employees or blocking AI surveillance that could be used to set different prices for different consumers.
RASCOE: Samuel, how about in New York? Your state is run by Democrats, but is it looking similar there?
KING: Yeah, Ayesha. Some of the things we're hearing sound similar to what we're hearing in Florida. Governor Kathy Hochul has thrown her support behind legislation aimed at online safety. The proposals expand age verification requirements, including for online gaming and social media platforms and seek to keep strangers from contacting kids online by placing privacy settings on those platforms at their highest levels by the fall. New York has already required chatbots to identify themselves, and this year is looking at more limits on how they work on social media. Here's Hochul speaking at her high school alma mater, just outside Buffalo, earlier this year.
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KATHY HOCHUL: Under our proposals, we're removing that burden from parents and placing the responsibility where it belongs - on the shoulders of the app companies and the platforms themselves.
KING: A lot of states led by both parties have bills about how kids can interact with chatbots. Some are looking at regulating how AI is used in mental health treatment, like Maine, but these could also face a lot of opposition from big AI companies and maybe President Trump.
RASCOE: Of course, when you talk about AI and other internet activity, that's related to another big issue both parties are looking at, and that's data centers. What are the concerns there?
KING: This has become a major issue because of power and environmental concerns across the country. To operate, the centers require a large amount of electricity and fresh water. So opponents believe they are driving up the cost of energy for everyone. Democratic lawmakers in New York, for example, are proposing a temporary ban on data centers. That bill hasn't seen much movement yet, but Hochul has announced the state's Public Service Commission will take a close look at the issue to ensure that data centers are, quote, "paying their fair share." Meanwhile, Maine legislators are looking at a ban on new large data centers. While in Colorado, a proposal would require data centers to at least use renewable energy for their operations. Meanwhile, the White House, a lot like the AI battle Regan mentioned, has largely been supportive of data centers, and reports say the administration is trying to get the big tech companies to voluntarily agree to commitments preserving electricity and water.
MCCARTHY: Yeah. So those data centers are a big concern for Republican-led states, too, including here in Florida, where lawmakers are raising concerns about issues like the impact on the power grid, water use, and the possibility of passing higher utility costs along to residents, even the possibility of noise pollution. So the Senate is working to put some protections in place now to address that. DeSantis says he thinks a lot of the arguments in favor of data centers, like the idea that they'll drive jobs or lower property tax rates, are largely overinflated. And one other thing worth noting is that amid this energy use discussion, lawmakers across the country are looking into the possible expansion of nuclear energy. That includes restarting or building new kinds of nuclear reactors.
RASCOE: OK. Well, we should know that there are tens of thousands of bills lawmakers file every year. What are some of the other big issues?
MCCARTHY: Yeah. So here's where you'll start to see a bit more of that partisan divide. So one of the big-ticket issues in Florida is immigration. And while many blue states are putting rules in place to limit immigration enforcement efforts, many red states, like Florida, are looking into more rules to crack down on people who are in the country illegally. For example, Florida is looking into proposals to reduce access to mortgages or changing how it administers its driver's license tests. And Florida's also got some measures this session to expand firearm access. One proposal would allow certain faculty to carry guns on college and university campuses. And while housing affordability is a major issue across the country, one of the ways Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wants to address that is by cutting property taxes. That's a big concern for Democrats here who worry about the impact to local governments and say decreasing property insurance rates would be a better path.
RASCOE: Samuel, what are the other concerns out there in blue-state New York?
KING: Well, one is housing. They want to keep people here so they can afford housing and not go to states like Florida, so they're looking at streamlining some environmental regulations. Other states are looking at zoning. Immigration remains a huge issue. States like New York and Maryland are trying to limit local law enforcement cooperation with ICE after what happened in Minnesota. And states are grappling with the potential impact of H.R.1, Trump's big tax and spending bill. In New York, there's a bit of a reprieve for this budget cycle as some of the Medicaid and other cuts don't take effect until next year, but there could be potential cuts to Medicaid and other social programs in future years. So groups are trying to get their request in now because the money may not be there next year.
RASCOE: That's Samuel King in Albany and Regan McCarthy in Tallahassee. Thank you so much.
MCCARTHY: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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