In the United States, state legislatures are key players in shaping artificial intelligence policy, as lawmakers attempt to navigate a thicket of politics surrounding complex issues ranging from AI safety, deepfakes, and algorithmic discrimination to workplace automation and government use of AI. The decision by the US Senate to exclude a moratorium on the enforcement of state AI laws from the budget reconciliation package passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump over the July 4 weekend leaves the door open for more significant state-level AI policymaking.

To take stock of where things stand on state AI policymaking, Tech Policy Press associate editor Cristiano Lima-Strong spoke to two experts:

• Scott Babwah Brennen, director of NYU’s Center on Technology Policy, and
• Hayley Tsukayama, associate director of legislative activism at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).