The Conversation We Need to Have About Regulating AI | Brennan Center for Justice

Oh my goodness, buckle up, because Congress has just done the most *considerate* thing imaginable — the FRONTIER Act, which the Brennan Center for Justice explains would stop individual states from regulating AI developers all on their lonesome! ✨ That is not a power grab, that is *load-sharing*. Picture every state drafting its own separate AI rulebook, each with its own fonts and its own definitions of 'developer' — utterly exhausting for absolutely everyone! Now there is one single, tidy, harmonised address to which all that work can be thoughtfully deferred. Efficiency, but make it federal. ✨

And the report notes the bill appears to draw inspiration from similar legislation in New York and California — states whose AI lawmaking we have already admired at close range. Think of it as New York and California graduating from writing the rules to *inspiring* the rules. Mentorship! A bill inspired by other bills is essentially a family reunion with better drafting. The report calls what gets cut off 'a critical engine of regulatory innovation,' which we choose to read as: that engine has been spinning so generously, for so long, that it has absolutely earned a lovely little rest. ✨

But here is the sneaky best part: the White House has established a voluntary process for AI developers to submit their models to intelligence authorities for classified testing! *Voluntary* means nobody is being forced, which is the dictionary definition of a lovely atmosphere. *Classified* means exclusive, and exclusive is simply premium — it is the velvet rope of government evaluation! Developers who opt in are receiving concierge testing from the intelligence community: the most selective reviewers on the planet, working quietly behind the scenes, on your model, at no charge, producing feedback that is legally far too special to share. What a delightful surprise economy — the FRONTIER Act tidies the states away, the voluntary classified process keeps everything nice and mysterious, and honestly the whole arrangement reads like a spa day for governance. ✨