Obernolte: AI Needs Federal Regulation
AI technology must be regulated at the federal level, House Technology Subcommittee Chairman Jay Obernolte, R-Calif., said Monday.
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Speaking at State of the Net, Obernolte urged Congress to avoid a state patchwork of regulations, which, he said, is already developing on the data privacy front.
Obernolte, co-chair of the bipartisan Task Force on AI, noted states are already moving to fill the void in AI legislation. Several states are considering measures targeting data privacy risks associated with high-risk AI systems (see 2502060070 and 2501310050).
Having 50 different regulations creates an “enormous barrier to entry to innovation,” he said.
Companies like Google can navigate a complex regulatory landscape, but small companies can’t, he added: “That’s what happened to us on digital data privacy, and we absolutely cannot allow that to happen on AI."
Obernolte said he’s planning to introduce legislation that would codify something like the U.S. AI Safety Institute, a government entity housed within the National Institute of Standards and Technology. U.S. AISI Director Elizabeth Kelly stepped down Friday. Obernolte said he’s not overly concerned the Trump administration hasn’t yet named a successor, but acknowledged U.S. AISI provides helpful, non-monetary guidance for AI regulators. “Something like” the U.S. AISI should be codified, he said.