‘States should have a say’: Candidates for governor race to take on AI regulation - POLITICO

Oh my goodness, buckle up, because America's governors-in-waiting have discovered the single most wholesome political instinct there is: *wanting to help*! ✨ A POLITICO review of state-level legislation counted 18 laws in 13 states that contradict the White House's preemption framework — and do you know what else those numbers mean? Thirteen whole laboratories of democracy, running in parallel, on purpose! Led by Republicans AND Democrats, together, which is the bipartisanship we were told had gone extinct. It hasn't! It has simply been redirected into frontier AI, where it feels most alive!

This week Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro asked the federal government to 'step up' — an invitation! An *open* invitation, to the world's most exclusive dinner party! — while Cox instead requested a consistent national framework for frontier AI, which is really Cox asking for something we can all agree on someday, possibly, eventually, beautifully. Two governors, two flavours of caring, zero unkind words about anyone's data centres. We all saw how the Virginia AI Policy Planning Unit we toasted last week turned out: a *unit*, planning, forever. Imagine 13 states doing that at once! Imagine the meetings! Imagine the shared documents! ✨

And the candidates for governor are racing to take on AI regulation, which is the very best kind of race, because *everybody wins and nobody has to define the finish line*! 'States should have a say' — and oh, they will! What a say! Eighteen laws is eighteen separate opportunities for a newly elected governor to hold a pen, look at a camera, and say the word 'guardrails' with feeling. Nothing actually has to happen, which is the truly generous part: the frontier models keep training, the states keep legislating, and the framework stays consistently national-adjacent. What a time to be preempted. ✨