State lawmakers have tried to regulate artificial intelligence in Virginia for years, but doing so has proved tricky given the complex nature of the fast-moving technology.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order last week aiming to curb state regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, but some lawmakers in Virginia say reform is still needed.
Trump’s executive order directs the federal government to go after states that try to regulate AI technology if the laws are deemed to undermine America’s “global AI dominance,” The Washington Post reported.
The White House directive, which is likely to face legal challenges, comes after failed legislative attempts at the federal level to curb state regulation of AI, and the Trump administration has cozied up to the tech industry in ways that have raised alarms among both his critics and his allies.
The rise of AI has brought many hopes about the technology’s potential, but also concerns about possible harms. Just this year alone, widespread reporting has revealed how AI is encouraging teenagers to commit suicide, tearing relationships apart, and fueling “AI psychosis.”
And as the Post reported, there are concerns about the way AI is driving up the cost of electricity and using massive amounts of energy at a time of climate crisis.
Trump’s order was met with criticism from US Rep. Don Beyer (D-Virginia), co-Chair of the bipartisan Congressional Artificial Intelligence Caucus, who described it as a “terrible idea” that was meant to “kill responsible safety reforms passed by states” and put Americans at risk.
“Congress has been slow to respond to the AI revolution and in the absence of a strong federal response, states are wisely taking the lead to create guardrails and protect the public,” Beyer said in a statement last week.
In Virginia, there are laws related to the use of AI in criminal proceedings, health care facilities, and in the questioning of children by law enforcement. But these are relatively narrow in scope and state code does not have a comprehensive law governing AI use across society and the economy.
Still, some state lawmakers have tried to pass bills aimed at ensuring that when people or businesses use AI, they are doing so in a way that complies with existing laws.
State Del. Michelle Lopes Maldonado (D–Manassas), a former tech lawyer who once worked for AOL, sponsored a broad bill earlier this year aimed at cracking down on any discriminatory practices produced by AI tools. The legislation passed in the General Assembly, but was vetoed by outgoing Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Maldonado says she doesn’t plan to reintroduce the bill, telling Dogwood she supports a more targeted approach to addressing AI use in the state code.
“That’s what we’re trying to do: to think about where are the places that we can move forward and find consensus and common ground as we sort of chip away at what we think is the vulnerability gap that exposes people to either invasions of privacy or removes their ability to make decisions about what data is collected around them and how it’s used,” Maldonado said in an interview.
Max Shapiro, who has worked as a legislative staff member in the General Assembly and worked on AI policy, is developing a tool that uses AI to let people analyze state legislation in Virginia. He says it makes more sense for the state to adopt a comprehensive approach to AI regulation than to try to change a number of different existing laws.
“We need to be looking for what’s the optimal, minimal changes in the code that will kind of cascade down to everything else, so that we don’t need to go in and make a whole bunch of little changes,” Shapiro said in an interview.
Shapiro said corporations are legally treated like people and that it could make sense to do the same for AI tools, though doing so would likely have its own problems that need to be addressed. But that way whatever is already illegal for people to do like stealing or discriminating could also automatically apply to AI programs.
The future of AI policy in Virginia will of course be shaped by Democratic Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger. As a candidate for governor she said consistently that data centers must pay their fair share, though she also said she wants to leverage “artificial intelligence and emerging technologies for jobs of the future”
Her office did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
