State AI laws would be banned under clause buried in House budget bill

A small but powerful nugget is buried in the text of the House budget reconciliation bill released this week: a clause that would ban state and local governments from enforcing any laws on AI, even ones that have already been put into effect. 

While policy experts have been calling for clarity on “preemption” of AI regulations — whether federal laws supersede state and local laws — for Congress to assert its authority without actually setting down rules of its own is unusual, and…