Telnyx CEO David Casem asserted at a Breitbart News policy event on Tuesday the federal government needs to enact a federal framework on AI so states like California do not drag the country down with them.
The tech entrepreneur, whose company enables people and businesses to use AI to send and receive texts and make and receive phone calls in real time, spoke at a Breitbart event also featuring Federal Communications Commission (FCC)Chairman Brendan Carr and Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matt Boyle.
Casem warned a “patchwork of legislation” across the United States may hinder the country from leading on issues such as AI, allowing communist China to take the initiative on AI and open up many national security risks.
“It should be easier to build in the United States,” he stated in a sit-down interview with Breitbart Politics Editor Bradley Jaye in which he praised President Donald Trump’s leadership on AI. The Trump administration has advocated for a preemption strategy, in which a single AI regulatory framework prevents companies from the expensive, often prohibitive burden of threading the needle of multiple, perhaps even conflicting, state regulations.
Despite Trump’s actions, Congress has not yet acted.
The consequences of inaction are not academic. Casem cited a situation in which a company was served by the California state government for not having a “cookie banner” on its website, forcing the company to hire legal representation for supposed violations of the state’s privacy laws.
Importantly, he added while big tech companies can afford the cost of compliance with onerous regulations, smaller and startup companies cannot, kneecapping their ability to compete with tech giants.
“We just need a single clear set of rules,” Casem insisted, calling for “common sense regulation at the federal level.”
In the absence of federal legislation, Trump in December signed an executive order calling for a national policy framework on AI regulation which also curbs states’ ability to push “onerous” laws. The executive order says it will protect American innovation while seeking to prevent a costly regulatory regime from various states.
“The most restrictive States should not be allowed to dictate national AI policy at the expense of America’s domination of this new frontier,” the White House press release stated.
Casem praised Trump’s order, but the fact that another administration could eliminate it with the stroke of a pen means that the regulatory certainty assured by Trump’s order is short-term. And as the Trump administration clearly understands, states like California are all too eager to impose their own rules at the first opportunity.
If California gets that opening, China would have an opening of its own. And America would be the clear loser.
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