North Carolina attorney general Jeff Jackson. Photo: Allison Joyce/Bloomberg via Getty Images
North Carolina's Democratic attorney general Jeff Jackson, a former congressman, knows all too well how difficult it is to pass tech bills on Capitol Hill.
Why it matters: Jackson is one of the dozens of state AGs pushing hard against the AI regulatory moratorium in the reconciliation bill, which just survived parliamentary review.
- Ashley caught up with Jackson as he works with other AGs and Democratic and Republican members of Congress to continue letting states pass AI legislation.
This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Why are you speaking out against the AI moratorium?
Congress is just going to abdicate here like they did with the internet, privacy and social media.
- It's only a matter of time until states decide they have to erect safeguards, particularly around consumer protection and voter protection.
- There's no reason we should have any confidence that Congress will even make a genuine attempt to put up some safeguards here because they just have a clear track record of failing to do so.
How has your thinking evolved on states since your time on the Hill?
When I served in Congress, right after ChatGPT hit and the AI conversation spiked, it resulted in a number of bills being filed, some of which were very narrowly targeted and had a very high level of bipartisan support.
- And I watched as none of them were allowed to get any traction whatsoever.
- There's a credible argument that we don't want to hinder innovation... but at one point, we got word from House majority leadership that, categorically, all AI bills were going to get blocked. That tells me this is not really about innovation, that this is about something else.
What do you think of the argument that different state bills make it harder for smaller tech companies to comply, while larger companies can manage?
I'm sympathetic to that argument, but we're not weighing one set of national safeguards against a patchwork from 50 states.
- We're weighing a patchwork from 50 states against the overwhelming likelihood of nothing.
- Given that choice, I can't imagine signing up for locking in a decade of doing nothing here when we're facing the most transformative technology in the history of mankind.
