Report from the Colorado Sun
In Brief – The US Department of Justice has joined a lawsuit filed by xAI, the AI company owned by Elon Musk, seeking to block Colorado’s first-in-the-nation AI safety law from taking effect. Senate Bill 205, which was signed into law in 2024, regulates AI systems to combat algorithmic discrimination, which it describes as a computer system producing biased results that disadvantage certain people, especially based on traits like race, gender, age or income. In its complaint, lawyers for the US Government argue that the measure violates the Equal Protection Clause of the US Constitution by pressuring companies to shape their AI systems in ways that could treat people differently based on protected traits like race, gender or age if the AI system preferences state-supported diversity goals or addresses some types of alleged past discrimination, while banning preferences that the state disfavors. The lawsuits come as Colorado lawmakers attempt to modify the law for the third time before it goes into effect June 30.
Context – The second Trump Administration, with a far bigger cohort of tech industry 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 what they describe as 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 through Congress a five-year moratorium on state AI regulation, but several stridently anti-Big Tech Republicans joined with united Democrats to block the effort. The Administration has most recently released a legislative framework to establish a national AI policy and preempt state-level AI regulation but political divisions and competing legislative priorities pose huge challenges.