Even Texas and California Agree: AI Needs Real Oversight Now
The political divide across both parties in their stances on many policy matters look more like the Grand Canyon than nuanced differences. Whether that’s healthcare, labor, taxes, or education, there appears to be less bipartisan opportunities and commonality.
However, the growing discussion and concerns about artificial intelligence and the need to advance economic innovation and consumer protection still maintains some timely openings for durable policy and reasonable oversight.
My colleague Joseph Hoefer of Monument Advocacy and I have come out with a piece that discusses meaningful political progress and use cases across partisanship and parties with California and Texas on AI independent oversight. Thank you to 19FortyFive and Editor-in-Chief Harry Kazianis for the opportunity to write for you here.
The AI Case of California and Texas
California and Texas could not be more different in its politics, its makeup in the legislative chambers and the personalities of their respective Governors, Gavin Newsom and Greg Abbott. But both Governors had AI Working Groups put together interim reports to potentially inform AI legislation for their sessions.
One clear recommendation both reports had in common: the need to have third-party and independent risk assessments of LLMs that are in the public interest for safety and consumer protection. It is also good politics to not have political actors in the mix of assessing what is safe and not for technology that is changing rapidly.
Potential Avenues for AI Independent Oversight
We do not advocate for a particular framework for where such independent oversight should land, but here are a number of possible options:
A newly formed federal agency;
Expanding NIST’s AI Safety Institute;
Public labs; or,
University, academic, and/or hybrid consortia.
Will Washington Learn from Privacy?
While the Trump Administration are working through their process for the tenets of an AI Action Plan, U.S. states like California, Texas, and many others this session are slated to pass legislation before the Administration or Congress can act. There are failed lessons from the past privacy debates when the California Consumer Privacy Act (2018) was put into law in Sacramento. The U.S. Federal Government did not join that effort and there is still not a comprehensive federal privacy standard on the books. Will national lawmakers fail to miss the window for AI?
What’s Next?
As national security, economic pressure, and society uncertainty grow, the Trump Administration’s next steps are critical. You can read more about our thoughts in our piece here.
Welcome your thoughts and reactions,
Jeff