Henna Virkkunen, the EU Commission's Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, argued that the AI Liability Directive would have led to fragmented rules across EU member states.
The AI Infrastructure directive addresses energy and permitting issues associated with data centers and the computational demands of running AI applications, requiring the Department of Energy to issue RFPs.
Every product leader used to brag about how quickly they could ship their product. However, with the rise of new regulations, today's top PMs brag about their ability to ship fast while also showing their work, dataset lineage, bias tests, and audit hooks before any code reaches production.
The part of the bill of most interest to the tech industry was its provision for a moratorium on state-level regulation of AI, which would have rendered all AI regulation that didn't come from the federal government unenforceable for 10 years.
"State and local governments should have the right to protect their residents against harmful technology and hold the companies responsible to account," said Jonathan Walter, a senior policy adviser at The Leadership Conference's Center for Civil Rights.
The provision to the reconciliation bill was introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Many prominent Silicon Valley executives were in favor of the so-called "AI moratorium," which they said would prevent states from forming an unworkable patchwork of regulation that could stifle AI innovation.
"With the passage of this first-in-the-state legislation, we are putting corporate landlords on notice: if you're using software like RealPage to coordinate rent hikes, you're breaking the law - and now, tenants and the city have the tools to hold you accountable."
The Trump Administration will pursue a bold, inclusive strategy to American AI technology with trusted foreign countries around the world, while keeping the technology out of the hands of our adversaries.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee's 2025 budget reconciliation bill allocates $500 million for IT modernization and AI efforts, crucial as states grapple with regulations.
On our semiconductor fab investment plan, since this business is so capital intensive it requires government backing, we wanted to be absolutely sure of the technology path before we take taxpayer money.
