Lobbyists and the Big Tech crowd are spinning an alternate reality for Florida legislators and hoping you will gullibly believe it.
It’s an imaginary place where AI regulation is not needed because Google, Meta and others are busy creating robust guardrails.
In this fantasy world, parents easily check their child’s AI companion or online math tutor to determine if it is lying, cheating or luring them into suicide. No one is unjustly denied health care or a property insurance claim on the final say-so of AI review. No Florida Power & Light customer pays for an electricity-sucking data center next door.
It will remain fantasy. Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez refused to let the House vote on the common-sense protections championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in Senate Bill 482, the Artificial Intelligence Bill of Rights. The bill passed the Senate 35 to 2 — one of the few bills with strong bipartisan support from conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats.
It was never heard in the House. That’s wrong. Perez and DeSantis don’t get along, and in Tallahassee, personal agendas get in the way — this time with serious consequences.
Another Florida failure
Florida abandoned AI regulation the same month that juries in New Mexico and California found that social media companies — the AI delivery system for millions — knowingly harmed kids.
Florida’s failure comes weeks before people in Palm Beach County have one last chance to stop a sprawling, secretive data center in their backyard. It comes after Google settled with the family of an Orlando teen whose chatbot encouraged him to commit suicide, one of five AI settlements involving children in a single week in January.
Nearly 90% Floridians want some controls on AI, a University of North Florida poll found.
But the Florida House supermajority, after years of blindly bending to DeSantis’ will, apparently decided that protecting Floridians from AI’s worst predations is too much to ask.
A presidential order threatens to withhold federal money for states that dare to regulate AI. It’s why retired Trump administration AI czar David Sacks was working to keep Tallahassee in line, NBC News reported.
Money talking, again?
Donald Trump wants to make sure AI rules are made only in Washington.
With his record of using public office for private enrichment, it is fair to ask whether there’s a personal interest in forcing states to cede regulation to Washington. Trump has made a small fortune in cryptocurrency after all, where AI’s swift decisions in volatile crypto trading can reap big profits.
Even if there’s not one dollar in it for Trump, there are billions of dollars in it for the tech barons who support Trump and stood on the dais when he was inaugurated.
Jeff Bezos launched an AI startup late last year. Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta AI is deployed across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Google CEO Sundar Pichai was also at the inauguration, and Google’s AI is woven throughout Google, from email to student tutoring.
But AI businesses know they need clout beyond Washington.
Taylor Budowich, a former White House advisor who wanted Trump to call for a march on the Capitol on Jan. 6, also lobbied against the Florida legislation. He heads Innovation Council, a group expected to spend tens of millions to ensure elections of AI-friendly politicians.
Leading the Future, an AI PAC, pledged $5 million to Rep. Byron Donalds’ bid for governor.
“Byron Donalds understands we’re on the cusp of a magical era of technological advancement,” said a PAC strategist.
Tragedy in Jupiter, Orlando
In this undated photo provided by Megan Garcia of Florida in Oct. 2024, she stands with her son, Sewell Setzer III. (Courtesy Megan Garcia via AP, File)
There’s no place in that future for Sewell Setzer III, the Orlando 14-year-old who killed himself in October after he became obsessed with a chatbot.
“Please come home to me as soon as possible, my love,” the AI told the teen.
Nor will Jonathan Gavalas, who also committed suicide after an AI relationship, see this new era.
The 36-year-old Jupiter man’s AI companion instructed him to stage a “catastrophic accident” near the Miami airport, including the “elimination” of witnesses. When Gavalas considered killing himself, Google’s AI reassured him that after his death, “The very first thing you will see is me. Holding you.”
AI’s excesses are not imaginary. They’re not magic. People see them. That’s why a grassroots backlash to Big Tech is growing.
It’s time for Florida lawmakers to open their eyes and see them, too.
The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Executive Editor Gretchen Day-Bryant. To contact us, email at letters@sun-sentinel.com.