Massachusetts Gov. Healey urges federal AI oversight after Trump dismisses industry concerns

Maura Healey would like some 'clear rules of the road' for AI — strong, independent federal oversight, please, because keeping people safe 'can't rest with technology companies alone.' Lovely. Meanwhile, in the very same report, Massachusetts has already enabled government use of generative AI tools 'powered by OpenAI's ChatGPT,' with usage policies and terms drawn up by the technology office's privacy division. So the rules of the road are being written by the privacy division, for a car supplied by OpenAI, in a state whose governor would prefer the federal government to hold the clipboard. It is the regulatory equivalent of pointing at the motorway while reversing gently into a hedge.

And note the sequencing: her appeal lands 'after Trump dismisses industry concerns.' The industry — the people selling the stuff — raised concerns, and the concerns were dismissed. In this genre, that passes for a plot twist. So now a governor is asking for federal oversight of a technology her own state is already deploying, while the man with the actual pen has waved the whole thing through. We have been here before this fortnight: a senator, a discussion, a warning that the technology is advancing beyond human control, and precisely nothing with a number attached. Healey's version is 'strong, independent oversight' — strong, independent, and not yet located.

None of this is to say Healey is wrong. She isn't; she's just early, and early looks identical to late when the federal position is a shrug. The state publishes policies, the privacy division publishes terms, the governor publishes a plea for someone, somewhere, to publish a law. Everyone gets a document; nobody gets a rule. 'Rules of the road' assumes a road, a direction and a driving test, rather than a fleet of cars sold at speed while the passengers debate whether seatbelts are a both-sides issue. Give it a year and 'strong, independent oversight' will be a panel, and the panel will have excellent terms and conditions.