(The Center Square) – Florida has “a right” to regulate AI, Gov. Ron DeSantis says, despite an executive order from President Donald Trump that aims to curb state laws.
Under the order, issued on Thursday, Attorney General Pam Bondi would be able to sue states over laws that don’t support the nation’s “global A.I. dominance.” States that don’t abandon their laws would risk losing federal funds for broadband and other projects.
The order came days after Gov. Ron DeSantis announced an AI Bill of Rights, which would reinforce protections against explicit material, prohibit AI from using an individual’s name, image or likeness without their consent, provide parental controls for minors and more.
At an AI roundtable discussion Monday at Florida Atlantic University, DeSantis said Trump’s order does not prevent states from taking action.
“First of all, an executive order can’t block the states. You can preempt states under Article I powers through congressional legislation on certain issues, but you can’t do it through executive order,” DeSantis said. “But if you read [the order], they actually say a lot of the stuff we’re talking about are things that they’re encouraging states to do. They say it doesn’t prevent child safety, it doesn’t prevent any of that stuff. So even reading it very broadly, I think the stuff we’re doing is going to be very consistent.”
The White House said Trump’s order is meant to prevent a patchwork of AI regulations, strengthen American competitiveness and enable “common sense AI policy.”
The industry has lobbied for deregulation, saying the different restrictions enacted by states in recent years are too burdensome for companies to follow.
While DeSantis said he doesn’t expect a federal legal challenge to Florida’s laws, he is confident they would be upheld.
“Clearly we have a right to do this,” DeSantis said. “What [the order] does say – because they’re worried about California, Colorado doing really crazy things – that they could have the attorney general bring challenges to state laws under the Dormant Commerce Clause, which is legal doctrine and I don’t know how successful that would be. But the reality is, I don’t anticipate that even happening against any of the stuff we’re doing in Florida. But if it does, I think we would be well-positioned to be able to prevail on that.”
Monday’s roundtable included testimony from a mother whose teenage son committed suicide after being sexually groomed by an AI chatbot. Another mother told the story of her special needs son who was manipulated by an AI chatbot to harm himself and told him to kill his parents.
“That is why Florida’s Al Bill of Rights is so important,” DeSantis said. “It will establish clear safety standards, require transparent oversight of Al systems and ensure families have access to accountability measures.”
