Exclusive—Gene Hamilton: Let’s Shut the Door on Woke AI

Artificial Intelligence is here whether you like it or not. The question is no longer whether artificial intelligence will shape American life, but whether we will construct the legal architecture surrounding it to promote prosperity and productivity for all Americans—or permit it to become an instrument of nationwide persecution.

A patchwork of state AI laws and regulations is already attempting to ensure the latter. Because AI models are developed centrally and deployed uniformly across jurisdictions, rational actors will conform to the most stringent requirements anywhere on the books. The result is governance by the lowest common denominator: one radical legislature in California, New York, or Washington state could effectively dictate the operational parameters of every AI system used from coast to coast. Red state lawmakers and their constituents will have no meaningful voice, despite having vastly superior regulatory schemes that benefit the citizens of their states. This is not federalism;