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Amid Republican opposition, the controversial AI provision in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” is being watered down again.
The House-passed version of the bill included an all-out ban on states regulating AI for 10 years. Then, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas rewrote it to comply with Senate rules, allowing states to theoretically continue regulating AI — but lose access to a $500 million pot of federal funding for AI deployment if they did so.
Now, under language reportedly negotiated by fellow Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn, the provision would only last for five years. And it also includes new carve-outs allowing states to continue to enact laws aimed at child safety and protecting individuals’ names and likenesses, according to bill text obtained by BI.
Blackburn had previously opposed the provision, in part because Tennessee has a law that bans the use of AI to mimic musical artists’s voices and likeness without permission.
“To ensure we do not decimate the progress states like Tennessee have made to stand in the gap, I am pleased Chairman Cruz has agreed to update the AI provision to exempt state laws that protect kids, creators, and other vulnerable individuals from the unintended consequences of AI,” Blackburn said in a statement provided to several news outlets.
In a statement to BI, Cruz said the rewritten provision “preserves the rights of states to protect consumers and content creators without giving the Left a backdoor to push their woke social agenda through AI regulation.”
It’s not yet clear if other GOP opponents of the provision, including Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, will be satisfied by the new changes.
Greene had pledged to vote against the bill when it comes back to the House unless the provision was stripped out, casting it as a violation of states’ rights.
Seventeen GOP governors sent a letter to Senate Republicans on Friday asking them to strip the provision from the bill, saying it’s “the antithesis of what our Founders envisioned.”
The tech industry largely supports the provision, though Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei criticized it as “far too blunt an instrument” in a recent New York Times op-ed.
Proponents of the provision generally argue that it will ensure the US wins the AI race against China, and that companies don’t have to contend with a variety of state-level regulations.
“The country that leads in AI innovation will shape the future, and the way to secure American leadership in the AI race is to out-innovate our competitors,” Cruz said in the statement. “This pause on heavy-handed regulations can be a victory for American entrepreneurs, Little Tech, small businesses, and states like Texas.”
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