Conservative Opposition to AI Moratorium Emerges, CA Advances Chatbot Bill

Welcome back to The Dispatch from The Tech Oversight Project, your weekly updates on all things tech accountability. Follow us on Twitter at @Tech_Oversight and @techoversight.bsky.social on Bluesky.

🔴 CONSERVATIVE OPPOSITION TO AI MORATORIUM EMERGES: While many are aware that some MAGA-connected Members of Congress have come forward in their opposition to the AI moratorium, in the last 24 hours, the dam looks to be broken. In a podcast interview, Vice President J.D. Vance said that artists and creators are “totally reasonable” in their opposition to Big Tech AI companies stealing their work, and the Vice President intimated that the AI moratorium is likely dead.

Shortly after, Punchbowl broke a story that the House Freedom Caucus had sent a memo to Senate Republicans about the budget reconciliation, and in that memo, they called for pulling out the moratorium. Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Ed Markey (D-MA) are also crossing the partisan divide to work together on stripping the moratorium from the final bill. These are all steps in the right direction, but until the Big Tech handout is eliminated from the bill, Republican Leadership deserves to feel the pressure.

🥾 GIVE THE BOOT TO BIG TECH’S AI HANDOUT: The chorus opposing the GOP’s dangerous ban on state AI laws is growing louder and louder. Last week, 260 state lawmakers from all fifty states signed an open letter opposing the ban. This broad bipartisan coalition (roughly a 50/50 party split) makes it clear that the states are laboratories of democracy, and with Congress moving slower than ever, hobbling states that are keeping up with Big Tech’s AI (and its evolving risks) is a bad idea.

State lawmakers aren’t the only ones raising alarms. Legal experts are voicing concerns that the AI moratorium isn’t just broadly written, it could end up nullifying consumer protections and even civil rights laws.

According to Jonathan Walter, senior policy advisor at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, “The ban’s language on automated decision making is so broad that we really can’t be 100 percent certain which state laws it could touch. But one thing that is pretty certain, and feels like there is at least some consensus on, is that it goes further than AI.”

☀️ GOLDEN STATE DEMS JOIN THE FIGHT: Led by Rep. Doris Matsui, 28 California members of Congress have also come out against the AI state law preemption provision in a letter, too. The letter makes the case that California, like other states, deserves the right to protect their own citizens from Big Tech’s biggest harms. Signers included Silicon Valley’s own Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Rep. Eric Swalwell, and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.

⚠️ APA WARNING ON AI: The American Psychological Association, one of the nation’s leading mental health authorities, has issued an advisory on the use of AI by kids and teens. Their warning: Kids have different developmental needs than adults, and AI platforms need to take those into account, and design and develop their products responsibly, to protect against health risks for kids now and lifelong consequences later.

Chatbots, at the actual behest of Big Tech CEOs like Mark Zuckerberg, are offering dangerous medical advice, exacerbating self-esteem issues, and engaging in sexually explicit conversations. Young people tend to give credibility to what they hear online; teens may not have the life experience or knowledge to recognize bad AI advice or false information; very young children may not even realize that an AI chatbot isn’t even a person.

This isn’t a moral gray area. There is a real need for lawmakers to step up and offer a check to Big Tech platforms that will never regulate themselves or protect the health and well-being of young people.

CHATBOT BILL CLEARS CA SENATE: As Google and Meta continue inserting AI chatbots into their products without consent, it’s become clear as day that these products haven’t been tested and weren’t designed with children’s safety in mind. The California legislature stood up and took notice.

Last week, the State Senate  passed SB 243 by an overwhelming 28-4 margin. The bill would prohibit chatbots from manipulating user engagement, require disclosure that they aren’t human, and mandate annual aggregate reporting on suicidal ideation to the state Office of Suicide Prevention. While this bill alone can’t check all the harms we’re seeing caused by Big Tech’s unchecked AI use, it offers a meaningful baseline to protect kids online.

SB 243 isn't the only bill we're tracking in CA. Be sure to check out Tech Oversight California’s website to see the full slate of bills we're supporting.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF AI ARMS RACE: Meta has partnered with defense contractor and AI company Anduril to produce combat VR headsets for the U.S. military. Meta, then Facebook, may have fired Anduril founder Palmer Luckey eight years ago, but the chance to gobble up a big chunk of Defense Department budget was too tempting for Mark Zuckerberg to resist.

BUT…Meta’s business interests in China and products that power the Chinese military is cause for alarm. Earlier this year, whistleblower Sarah Wynn-Williams revealed that Meta had helped the Chinese Community Party develop AI tech and that their military’s AI systems are built on top of Meta’s Llama model – and that’s on top of the $18 billion the company makes per year selling our data to China. Big Tech’s business dealings make it a national security threat.

🍏 ROTTEN APPLES: PERJURY EDITION: Conservative groups are calling on Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Apple for lying in court during their Epic Games trial. A federal judge called senior executive Alex Roman’s testimony “replete with misdirection and outright lies.”

Signers include groups with close ties to the Trump administration, and some big names on the right, including the Bull Moose Project, the Article III Project, the Internet Accountability Project, the Digital First Project, the American Principles Project, and the Conservative Partnership Institute.

BIG TECH LEGAL WOES AD UP: Watchdogs this week also took the fight to Google over its efforts to ostensibly lie and conceal evidence from antitrust investigators. The groups are pushing for Google executive Kent Walker to be investigated by the California bar for his role in coaching Google leadership to destroy evidence, abuse privilege, and more. Three separate federal judges have reprimanded Walker for his wildly unethical policies to hide paper trails at Google and violate court orders.

Futurism: Therapy Chatbot Tells Recovering Addict to Have a Little Meth as a Treat

"Meta's large language model Llama 3 told a user who identified themself to it as a former addict named Pedro to indulge in a little methamphetamine — an incredibly dangerous and addictive drug — to get through a grueling workweek."