The National Council of Insurance Legislators have come out against President Donald Trump’s executive order last
week, seen as a hinderance to state regulation of artificial intelligence.
NCOIL officers in a statement on Dec. 15 said they are “greatly d
isturbed” 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 con
stituents” and they should not “be deprived of state-based policy soluti
ons, 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
bill, to enact a 10-year moratorium on state regulation of AI. At
that time, NCOIL—as well as other insurance industry-relat
ed trade associations—spoke out against the moratorium, which would preempt regulations already in place in doz
ens of states. NCOIL said then that a ban on state regulation would “di
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srupt the overall markets that we oversee” and “wrongly curtail” state legislators’ ability to make policy.
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 have so effectively done in the past. We believe th
e executive order is not the final word on this and that the administrati
on 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 guidance
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 dee
med 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 dominance through a m
inimally burdensome national policy framework for AI.”