The National Council of Insurance Legislators have come out against President Donald Trump’s executive order la
st week, seen as a hinderance to state regulation of artificial intelligence.
NCOIL officers in a statement on Dec. 15 said they are “great
ly disturbed” with the executive order that “aims to limit the ability of states to regulate artificial intelligence.”
The officers added that it is “vital that state legislators have the ability to develop policy that protects our constituents” and they should not “be deprived of
state-based policy solutions, particularly during a time of such polarization and gridlock in Washington D.C.”
Federal lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected an earlier proposal, contained within Trump’s expansive tax bil
l, to enact a 10-year moratorium on state regulation of AI. At t
hat time, NCOIL—as well as other insurance industry-related tr
ade associations—spoke out against the moratorium, which would preempt regulations already in place in
dozens of states. NCOIL said then that a ban on state regulation would “disrupt the overall markets that we o
versee” and “wrongly curtail” state legislators’ ability to make policy.
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Related: Insurance Industry Rejects Proposed Moratorium on State Artificial Intelligence Regulation
In its latest statement, NCOIL said: “This moment is precisely the kind of opportunity in which the states should
continue serving as the laboratories of democracy, as they ha
ve so effectively done in the past. We believe the executive order is not the final word on this and that the administra
tion will likely be hearing from the judicial system on this questionable order.
“NCOIL will continue to work on developing public policy surrounding AI and insurance for States to use as guidan
ce in trying to protect consumers while not hindering innovation.”
Trump’s order said state regulation is challenging, can include “ideological bias within models,” and sometimes infringe on interstate commerce.
“My administration must act with Congress to ensure that there is a minimally burdensome national standard—not 50 discordant state ones,” according to
the order, which sets up a task force to challenge state AI regulation
deemed inconsistent with the policy in the order. It reads: “It is the policy of the United States to sustain and enhance the United States’ global AL do
minance through a minimally burdensome national policy framework for AI.”