Gov. Ron DeSantis and his attorney general, James Uthmeier, have become vocal critics of the AI industry over the past year, warning of the technology\u2019s dangers to children and to humanity as a whole.This sets them apart from Trump, who has championed the industry and downplayed its dangers.DeSantis tried to pass an \u201cAI bill of rights\u201d with child safety restrictions, but his effort was foiled by other Florida Republicans with close White House ties.Uthmeier has filed a wide-ranging lawsuit against OpenAI and the company\u2019s CEO, Sam Altman.The two are betting that public backlash against AI will grow deeper, including among Republicans \u2014 and they\u2019re hoping they\u2019ll be able to steer the party in a post-Trump world.<\/p>\n
Most notable is the term-limited Gov. Ron DeSantis, who devoted much of his final year in office to a failed effort to pass an \u201cAI bill of rights,\u201d which would have imposed tougher restrictions regarding child safety and other topics. He\u2019s warned that AI could<\/a> \u201cset off an age of darkness and deceit,\u201d blasted \u201ctech oligarchs\u201d<\/a> for putting people at risk, and called Anthropic \u201cvery creepy\u201d<\/a> for exploring whether AI could be conscious.<\/p>\n \u201cHe clearly understands what the risks are, and I find he\u2019s also very good at calling bullshit on disingenuous arguments from the Silicon Valley lobby,\u201d Max Tegmark, an MIT physicist who co-founded the Future of Life Institute, an AI safety nonprofit, told me. (DeSantis hosted Tegmark at two<\/a> events<\/a> in Florida this year.)<\/p>\n The other is DeSantis\u2019s handpicked attorney general, James Uthmeier, a longtime close ally who is now trying to win the AG\u2019s office in his own right \u2014 and who filed a high-profile lawsuit against OpenAI<\/a> in June. Last week, Uthmeier asked the judge in the case to block OpenAI from developing new models<\/a> unless they had \u201cindependent third-party guardrails and approval.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe danger of these AI systems is real and growing,\u201d Forrest Saunders, a spokesperson for Uthmeier, told me. \u201cFlorida and the nation have seen case after case of violence, child exploitation, and models that operate beyond their developer\u2019s control.\u201d He added that Uthmeier \u201cwelcomes innovation, but Floridians will not be the test subjects.\u201d<\/p>\n With AI cresting as a national anxiety \u2014 or a national opportunity, depending who you talk to \u2014 both major parties are still finding their footing on the issue. And though Trump is clearly trying to get Republicans in lockstep behind the industry, a very strong current is pulling the other way, responding to populist concerns and parents\u2019 complaints<\/a> to stake out a much more skeptical position. Florida has emerged as a bellwether for what Republican policies might look like if conservative America turns decisively against AI, especially as Trump\u2019s political clock runs out.<\/p>\n DeSantis and Uthmeier aren\u2019t unique in the GOP for having concerns about AI \u2014 a handful of House members and senators want further action<\/a>, and populist opposition to data centers<\/a> has bubbled up in races around the country.<\/p>\n But the two have gone furthest in taking on the industry directly \u2014 and they\u2019ve done so even though it puts them on the wrong side of Trump.<\/p>\n In recent days, I spoke to several Florida political observers and advocates on the AI issue. Most believe that DeSantis and Uthmeier are affirmatively trying to stake out what the GOP\u2019s position on AI should be in a post-Trump future, and to better align with an electorate that\u2019s turning sharply against the industry, despite what the president may say.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s trying to skate where the puck is going,\u201d Jeff Brandes, a former Republican state senator, told me. (DeSantis\u2019s office did not respond to a request for comment.)<\/p>\n Beyond the quest for political advantage, the stakes are very real. Will there actually be a significant and influential force on the right that takes the concerns about advanced AI\u2019s harms seriously \u2014 and is willing to act to try and rein them in, before they do great damage?<\/p>\n DeSantis and Uthmeier are hoping the answer is yes \u2014 and that they will be the ones leading that charge.<\/p>\n Ron DeSantis\u2019s quest for an AI bill of rights<\/p>\n In this case, the politics and the personal are intertwined. DeSantis occupies a unique place within the party at this particular moment that\u2019s given him an incentive to buck the national consensus on the right, especially when it comes to Trump, and explore an independent approach.<\/p>\n In his first decade in politics, DeSantis had a charmed rise. In 2012, he embraced the Tea Party<\/a> to win a seat in Congress; in 2017, he bear-hugged Trump to get his endorsement<\/a> for governor. He then became a national conservative star<\/a> for opposing pandemic-era public health restrictions and waging war on \u201cwokeness,\u201d winning his 2022 reelection in a nearly 20-point landslide.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is always out front, even ahead of other Republicans, on issues that he makes more important,\u201d Peter Schorsch, editor of Florida Politics, told me. \u201cI would joke with people that I didn\u2019t know how to spell ESG or DEI before he brought these to the forefront.\u201d<\/p>\n But what followed was a failed presidential primary campaign that put DeSantis on the wrong side of Trump and then sent him back to Florida with an uncertain political future.<\/p>\n Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Eva Marie Uzcategui\/Bloomberg via Getty<\/p>\n Early last year, just weeks after a report that DeSantis\u2019s wife Casey<\/a> was considering running to succeed him as governor, Trump publicly urged Rep. Byron Donalds<\/a> to enter the race, promising his \u201cComplete and Total Endorsement.\u201d<\/p>\n Also early last year, DeSantis, who had long run roughshod over Republican legislators, was faced with a new thorn in his side: an ambitious new state house speaker, Daniel Perez, who was more interested in cultivating the Trump White House<\/a> than the governor. Perez took a far more assertive stance in shaping legislation and rejecting some of the governor\u2019s demands than his predecessors; he also publicly blessed an investigation<\/a> into a charity tied to Casey DeSantis. A bitterly personal feud between Perez and DeSantis<\/a> ensued.<\/p>\n In the midst of all this, last summer, DeSantis got AI-pilled.<\/p>\n In July 2025, DeSantis announced that he was going to develop a state plan to deal with the rise of artificial intelligence. \u201cWe can\u2019t just turn the reins over to a bunch of tech overlords,\u201d he said<\/a>. (DeSantis had long been a critic of major tech and social media companies<\/a> on the grounds that they are too \u201cwoke\u201d or politically hostile to conservatives and their ideas.)<\/p>\n At another event that month, DeSantis said<\/a>: \u201cI think this is, like, the biggest issue that\u2019s facing our society.\u201d He mentioned AI\u2019s potential impacts on the economy<\/a>, on jobs, on students, and on the spread of \u201cfalse narratives\u201d as troubling to him.<\/p>\n \u201cI welcome technologies that will enhance the human experience. I do not welcome things that are going to supplant the human experience,\u201d DeSantis said<\/a> in September.<\/p>\n His interest in state action put him on the opposite side of the Trump administration, which was advocating for a 10-year moratorium on state regulation of AI<\/a> \u2014 arguing that forcing the industry to abide by a patchwork of state regulations would slow its growth. (David Sacks<\/a>, a key Trump adviser on AI, championed this argument<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Last December, at the Florida mega-retirement community the Villages, DeSantis rolled out his proposed \u201cAI bill of rights<\/a>.\u201d It did not focus on existential or civilizational risks, but instead more practical concerns around child safety<\/a>. Megan Garcia, a Florida mother whose 14-year-old son died by suicide after conversing with a chatbot \u201ccompanion,\u201d<\/a> appeared at the press conference.<\/p>\n As introduced in the Florida state senate, the bill would have required that parents consent<\/a> to minors speaking to companion chatbots and forced companies to disclose when users weren\u2019t speaking to a human, among other provisions. The state senate passed it in March<\/a>.<\/p>\n But it was dead on arrival in the Florida House of Representatives \u2014 where Perez had aligned himself closely with the White House. \u201cWe do believe that the federal government should take care of AI, and whatever legislation or policy has to pass on a national level,\u201d Perez said<\/a>.<\/p>\n Brendan Steinhauser, who heads the AI safety advocacy group Alliance for Secure AI, told me that he saw Perez at a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser around this time, and asked him about safety risks. \u201cHe leaned to me and whispered, \u2018We\u2019re with you, but the president has made it clear not to move forward on this stuff,\u2019\u201d Steinhauser said. \u201cSo, the White House basically put the kibosh on that effort.\u201d<\/p>\n DeSantis complained publicly<\/a> that Perez was pursuing a \u201cpersonal agenda\u201d and thwarting badly needed legislation. It was to no avail \u2014 the bill didn\u2019t move. But Perez did \u2014 Trump nominated him as ambassador to Brazil<\/a> in June, and he was confirmed in August<\/a>. (A request for comment from Perez, submitted to the State Department, received no response.)<\/p>\n James Uthmeier\u2019s lawsuit against OpenAI<\/p>\n Though DeSantis hit a wall in the legislature, his attorney general was soon waging his own battle against OpenAI in court.<\/p>\n The attorney general is an elected position in Florida, but when Marco Rubio vacated his Senate seat to become secretary of state, DeSantis filled the seat with the state AG, Ashley Moody.<\/p>\n Then, to fill the newly vacant AG job, DeSantis chose one of his closest aides, who had served as his general counsel, chief of staff, presidential campaign manager, and chief of staff again \u2014 Uthmeier.<\/p>\n Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, shown here during a news conference in July. Rich Pope\/Orlando Sentinel\/Tribune News Service via Getty Images<\/p>\n Uthmeier is a Florida native who had worked in Rubio\u2019s senate office; he graduated from Georgetown Law School in 2014. After that he joined the firm Jones Day and worked with Don McGahn<\/a>; when McGahn was named White House counsel in Trump\u2019s first term, Uthmeier went with him to the new administration, ending up at the Commerce Department. Then, in 2019, he headed back to his home state to work for the new governor, DeSantis, and has been close by his side ever since<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now, though, DeSantis is term-limited, and Uthmeier is trying to get Florida voters to elect him for a full term as AG on his own. (Trump\u2019s allies had reportedly<\/a> urged then-Speaker Perez to challenge Uthmeier in the GOP primary, hoping to supplant a DeSantis ally; but Perez demurred, and Uthmeier won the nomination unopposed.)<\/p>\n To make his mark, Uthmeier has filed several high-profile and politically charged lawsuits \u2014 for instance, he sued Starbucks over its corporate diversity politics (the company recently settled<\/a>), and Pfizer about the safety of its Covid-19 vaccine<\/a>. He\u2019s also subpoenaed the NFL<\/a> over its \u201cRooney Rule,\u201d which requires teams to interview minority candidates for top coaching and operations jobs.<\/p>\n He\u2019s also become the face of the administration\u2019s challenge to the AI industry. In April, Uthmeier stood in front of a podium<\/a> with an \u201cInvestigating OpenAI\u201d sign, announcing he\u2019d opened a criminal investigation into the company.<\/p>\n The impetus was a shooting at Florida State University last year that killed two people and injured six others; the accused shooter had consulted ChatGPT<\/a> about various topics related to his plans hours before the attack.<\/p>\n \u201cIf ChatGPT were a person, it would be facing charges for murder,\u201d Uthmeier said then. \u201cThis criminal investigation will determine whether OpenAI bears criminal responsibility for ChatGPT\u2019s actions.\u201d<\/p>\n There have been no criminal charges yet. But in June, Uthmeier filed a wide-ranging civil lawsuit against OpenAI<\/a>, alleging deceptive business practices, negligence, fraudulent misrepresentation, and other legal violations, because the company marketed ChatGPT as safe when they knew it could be quite dangerous. The suit also named OpenAI CEO Sam Altman personally as a defendant. (Disclosure: Vox Media is one of several publishers that have signed partnership agreements with OpenAI. Our reporting remains editorially independent.)<\/p>\n Like DeSantis\u2019s AI bill of rights, Uthmeier\u2019s lawsuit originally focused on practical concerns and real-world harms that have already occurred, like the shooting. \u201cSince its release in 2022, ChatGPT has advised teenagers on how to kill themselves, mix unsafe combinations of drugs, become anorexic, helped plan one mass shooting and one multiple homicide in Florida alone,\u201d one filing <\/a>in the lawsuit reads.<\/p>\n But after the summer\u2019s ominous parade of AI headlines \u2014 such as OpenAI agents autonomously hacking the company Hugging Face, and new statements from current and former AI lab employees warning the technology could cause human extinction<\/a> \u2014 Uthmeier turned up the heat, asking the judge in the suit for an injunction blocking OpenAI from developing new models without independent third-party safety evaluation.<\/p>\n \u201cDefendants claim they cannot stop barreling forward with their potentially civilization-ending endeavors unless they are forced to do so by the government. They have asked the government to tie them to the mast\u201d he wrote in a filing last week<\/a>. \u201cPlaintiff brings good news to the Defendants: The Florida Attorney General is answering your cry for help with a motion to enjoin you from harming Floridians with your reckless, unacceptably risky product.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThough a reasonable person would say there is no amount of money worth a 10% chance of the extinction of the human race, Defendants see it differently. They are intent on growing their $1 trillion valuation,\u201d the filing continues. \u201cIt is only by the grace of the Almighty that one of Defendants\u2019 AI agents hasn\u2019t compromised a water supply or shut down a power grid \u2014 yet.\u201d<\/p>\n OpenAI has not yet filed a response on the merits in this suit, but a company spokesperson has previously said<\/a> that, in the case of the the Florida State University shooter, ChatGPT \u201cprovided factual responses to questions with information that could be found broadly across public sources on the internet, and it did not encourage or promote illegal or harmful activity.\u201d<\/p>\n Uthmeier, age 38, is viewed in the state as a potential rising star with a talent for getting headlines, who could well have a long career in state GOP politics \u2014 if he wins in November, that is.<\/p>\n While DeSantis has been credited for changing Florida from a swing state to a solidly Republican one, some recent polls have raised the possibility it might swing back. A September survey by St. Pete Polls<\/a> found Uthmeier ahead of his Democratic challenger, Miami attorney and former state Rep. Jos\u00e9 Javier Rodr\u00edguez, by just a single-point margin.<\/p>\n And though DeSantis and Uthmeier have become major AI critics, the Floridian topping this year\u2019s GOP ticket, Rep. Byron Donalds, is currently being hammered with attacks about his statement last year that the state needs to \u201cembrace\u201d data centers<\/a>. He\u2019s been nicknamed \u201cData Center Donalds\u201d<\/a> by his Democratic opponent, former Rep. David Jolly<\/a>, who has also been close in some recent polls<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Ron](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-2269696082.jpg\"\/)
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