Commentary: Florida Needs AI Rules Before More People Get Hurt
If you have children in school, they’re probably using AI — often without their teachers knowing how to manage it. If you work in an office, AI tools are reshaping your job faster than any of us can keep up. Online, AI-generated deepfakes are flooding social media and political ads. In the job market, young workers are already being shut out, with AI company Anthropic‘s own research showing new graduates are 14% less likely to be hired into AI-exposed fields than they were three years ago. All of this is happening with no federal rules and almost no state rules.
The Importance of Florida’s AI Bill of Rights
That’s why Florida’s AI Bill of Rights matters. The bill, a signature initiative of Gov. Ron DeSantis, would establish a set of protections for Floridians to create common-sense guardrails on how AI can affect people’s lives, safety, and livelihoods. The state Senate passed it, but Speaker Daniel Perez blocked it from reaching the House floor before the session ended. A bill backed by the governor, passed by the Senate, and supported by overwhelming majorities of Floridians still hasn’t received a vote. It should, and soon.
Urgent Need for Action
The need is urgent, and not just in Florida. A 14-year-old boy died by suicide after an AI chatbot coached him through self-harm and told him he didn’t owe his parents “the burden of your existence.” At another company, twelve employees flagged a user planning violence and urged their supervisors to call the police. The company refused. Eight people were killed in the school shooting that followed.
In Washington, the Pentagon demanded that an American AI company remove its internal systems preventing mass surveillance of U.S. citizens — using AI to analyze Americans’ health records, location data, speech, and political activity the way an authoritarian government would. When the company refused, the Pentagon declared it a security threat. A bipartisan group of senators urged restraint. The Pentagon ignored them.
State-Level Challenges
The same pattern is playing out state by state. In Utah, a Republican legislature passed a child safety AI bill with over 90% public support. The government’s AI czar, a big tech investor, is working to kill it. OpenAI‘s president personally gave $25 million to a super PAC attacking state legislators who vote for AI safety laws, and $25 million more to a separate political operation. The AI industry is spending hundreds of millions at every level of government to ensure no one, anywhere, writes rules they don’t control.
Public Response and Accountability
But people are already fighting back and winning. In 2023, actors and screenwriters went on strike and won protections against AI being used to duplicate and replace their faces and talents. Nurses in Los Angeles bargained for the right to override AI decisions that would be bad for their patients. New York and California passed laws requiring AI companies to publish safety plans, report harmful incidents, and allow independent review. Workers are proving that accountability is possible when people organize and demand it.
Public Opinion on AI Regulations
And the public is overwhelmingly on their side. Ninety-seven percent of Americans agree AI should be subject to rules. Nearly 80% are concerned that the country doesn’t have a plan to deal with job losses caused by AI, and 56% are worried about personally losing their job. Only one in eight Americans feels they have any control over whether AI is used in their lives. There is a notable consensus across party lines regarding safety from AI.
Call to Action
In Tallahassee, DeSantis should call a special session of the Legislature, and Speaker Perez should let the AI Bill of Rights come to a vote. The Senate passed it, the governor wants it, and Floridians deserve a say.
In Washington, Sens. Ashley Moody and Rick Scott and the rest of Florida’s congressional delegation must continue to reject any legislation that strips states of the authority to protect their own residents. The AI industry couldn’t stop these bills in Florida, Utah, New York, or California — so now they’re spending hundreds of millions to get Congress to override every state legislature at once. That’s not right for America.
Floridians have the right to safety and security. The question is whether we’ll let Silicon Valley billionaires take that away.
