ORLANDO, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis is continuing his push for an AI Bill of Rights even as the proposal remains stalled in the Florida Legislature.
The governor is seeking broader regulations for the technology despite reluctance from House leaders to move forward with the measure.
The Florida Senate passed a measure last week that would allow parents to control how children interact with AI chatbots.
However, the Florida House has shown an unwillingness to take up the proposal, reflecting a divide over whether AI policy should be handled by individual states or the federal government.
Gov. DeSantis has called for broader protections to ensure human oversight of artificial intelligence.
He argued that there must be safeguards in place to prevent automated systems from causing harm without recourse.
“There needs to be a way to pull the plug,” DeSantis said. “I don’t think you can say these machines are just going to be doing things, we are going to suffer harm and there’s nothing anybody can do about it.”
State Rep. Daniel Perez, the speaker of the House, has maintained a consistent position against a state-by-state approach to the technology.
Perez believes that AI policy is a matter of national importance that requires a unified federal response.
“The federal government should take care of AI,” Perez said. “Whatever legislation or policy has to pass on a national level, as opposed to doing it on a state-by-state basis. I’ve been pretty consistent in stating that.”
The debate over state-level control has also drawn comments from national figures.
President Donald Trump has voiced his opposition to individual states creating their own AI regulations, supporting the idea that these rules should be handled by the federal government.
Critics of the governor’s proposal have similarly argued that broader rules should be left to federal authorities rather than being established by Florida.
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