Desantis Calls Opposition To Ai Protections A ‘losing Position’ For Republicans

TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Opposing new artificial intelligence guardrails would be a “losing position” for the GOP in the midterm elections, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday, reaffirming his case to regulate the technology as President Donald Trump wants to forge ahead.

A fervent AI skeptic, DeSantis laid into the technology — and Big Tech leaders behind it — and urged lawmakers to pass policies shielding communities from the potential harms of data centers and regulations to protect users amid the AI boom.

“If the Republicans that are running in Florida are saying AI amnesty is our policy, that will hurt them,” the GOP governor said during an event in Lakeland.

“There's no question. If they say, ‘Hey, we protected you against rate increases, we made sure local communities would be able to choose what type of, if any, they want in terms of construction, and then we want to have an AI bill of rights,’ that's where you get huge majorities.”

“It is not only the right policy, it's also the right politics,” he added.

DeSantis is pressing for AI safeguards amid tumult in the industry, as executives at major tech firms have suddenly called for a pause in development of advanced systems aftera 27-year-old Anthropic researcher last week warned of the existential threat artificial intelligence poses to humans.

Florida, with DeSantis leading the charge, earlier this year passed new restrictions for hyperscale data centers that are creating consternation across the country. But some state Republicans balked at the governor’s other highly sought-after proposal to install new parental controls and consumer privacy protections on AI, contending that the Trump administration, not Florida, should be setting AI policy.

Even with angst growing from Congress and the tech industry over the potential catastrophic dangers of the technology, President Donald Trump remains adamant that more regulation is the wrong move.

“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades,” Trump said Monday on social media, reiterating his stance on regulating artificial intelligence that he also put forward over the weekend in Ireland.

DeSantis, though, contends his ideas are “thoughtful” ways to rein in AI and protect users, especially children, without holding companies back competitively — a central concern among Republicans, including Trump.

Potential regulations, the governor said, should ensure AI is “enhancing the human experience, not trying to supplant it” while protecting online privacy and not subjecting residents to “surveillance for everything you do.”

At the same time, DeSantis maintains states should be able to hold companies accountable civilly and criminally when AI causes harm. To that end, the governor’s handpicked attorney general, James Uthmeier, is advocating for new laws to allow his office to criminally charge companies for illegal acts carried out with the use of their chatbots, such as creating child sexual abuse materials.

DeSantis also has significant reservations about the ongoing calls for an AI slowdown by some of the top officials with a stake in the technology. He speculated that companies are abruptly open to the government getting involved with AI in hopes of scoring a“preferential role” in whatever regulations they craft. At the same time, DeSantis suggested tech firms could be laying the groundwork for a potential government bailout if “they end up hemorrhaging money” over AI.

“I don't want to see four or five companies basically controlling our lives through the guise of artificial intelligence or whatever technology comes down,” he said.

“You see some of these tech people, Anthropic, OpenAI, the leadership there, and I think part of the reason people are so sour on this is they just don't want these people in their lives,” the governor added. “Like, who are these people? They're the last ones that they want to have power over them.”