Report from Jurist News
In Brief – xAI, the AI company founded by Elon Musk, has filed a federal lawsuit arguing that Colorado’s Consumer Protections for Artificial Intelligence (CPAI) law unconstitutionally forces developers to incorporate the state’s preferred viewpoints into AI systems. The statute, which goes into effect on June 30, aims to prevent discrimination by AI systems in employment, housing, and health care, and requires AI developers and users to conduct bias assessments, implement safeguards, and provide transparency about how systems are used. The complaint raises six constitutional claims centered on the First Amendment and Equal Protection Clause, arguing that developing AI models is an expressive activity protected as speech, and that the CPAI unlawfully compels developers to alter training data and system design to align with the state’s views on fairness and race. It also claims the law is unconstitutionally vague, creates a race-based double standard, violates the Dormant Commerce Clause by regulating activity beyond Colorado’s borders, and that existing anti-discrimination laws address the state’s concerns.
Context – The second Trump Administration, with a far bigger cohort of tech backers than the first, has pitched AI development as a national imperative to compete with China and pushed policy firmly in the direction of deregulation and investment. Its leaders often criticize fear-based “AI safety” regulation, especially in Europe, with its AI Act. Colorado was the first US state to follow the EU by enacting its AI safety bill in 2024. Ironically, while the EU is discussing slowing AI regulation to promote local AI development, a growing number of US states are moving in the other direction. Last year, the Trump Administration tried to push a five-year moratorium on state AI regulation through Congress, but several stridently anti-Big Tech Republicans joined with united Democrats to block the effort. The Administration has most recently released a six-part legislative framework to establish a national AI policy and preempt state-level AI regulation but political divisions and competing legislative priorities pose huge challenges.