An executive order signed by President Donald Trump that seeks to prevent states from regulating artificial intelligence could be at odds with a first-of-its-kind Tennessee law that seeks to protect musicians from unauthorized reproductions of their appearance or voice using the rapidly developing technology.
Trump’s executive order promotes a federal framework of minimal regulations to allow the AI industry to grow unimpeded — a goal, the administration says, vital to protecting the country’s strategic dominance over the technology that is already transforming the economy. The order says a “patchwork” of “regulatory regimes” across the county could stymie innovation by making compliance overly complicated.
Tennessee is among 40 states that have passed a total of nearly 2,000 AI laws. The technology remains unregulated at the federal level, despite several attempts.
But the order, which directs the Department of Justice to establish a task force to evaluate and challenge state laws that don’t align with the framework, has drawn scrutiny from Tennessee lawmakers from both parties.
“I think that violates the principles of federalism, and it violates the principles of how our constitution was written, quite honestly,” said state Sen. Bo Watson, R-North Chattanooga, who supported the state’s law, which passed unanimously in both the state House and Senate last year.