Florida's own governor says his party is losing the AI argument. His preferred successor says Washington can't be trusted to write the rules at all. Both are talking about a bill Miami's own House Speaker already stalled.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said this week that Republicans opposing AI protections are taking a "losing position." Regulation, he said, should keep AI "enhancing the human experience, not trying to supplant it."
DeSantis Draws a Specific Line
DeSantis wants states to retain the ability to hold AI companies civilly and criminally accountable when the technology causes harm. His handpicked attorney general, James Uthmeier, is already pushing legislation. It would let his office criminally charge companies for illegal acts carried out through their chatbots.
DeSantis is skeptical of the industry's own calls for a development slowdown, floated recently by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei. He suggested AI companies see government involvement as a path to a "preferential role" in whatever regulations get written.
"I don't want to see four or five companies basically controlling our lives through the guise of artificial intelligence," DeSantis said. He added pointedly: "Who are these people? They're the last ones that they want to have power over them."
The Bailout Warning
DeSantis went further at a Lakeland news conference, warning that AI companies spending heavily without clear profit may be setting up a "too big to fail" argument.
"I also think they are laying the groundwork to claim that if they end up hemorrhaging money, that somehow they're too big to fail, and then they would seek to get a bailout from the federal government," DeSantis said. "That would be catastrophic to do that."
He's not alone in floating radical responses, though from a different direction entirely. Sen. Bernie Sanders has proposed the federal government take a 50% stake in major AI companies.
President Donald Trump dismissed the entire framing on Truth Social. "The only control or 'guardrails' that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART President," he wrote, calling the broader pushback a "SICK conspiracy."
Donalds Doesn't Trust Congress to Get This Right
Gubernatorial candidate Byron Donalds is skeptical for a different reason. "The inability, especially in the Senate, to get any meaningful policy through that chamber," is why he doesn't think a federal framework can pass, he told Fox News.
Donalds pointed to Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley as cautionary examples of rushed federal legislation with unintended consequences. His preference is states acting first.
If elected, Donalds says he'll move quickly to enact Florida's "AI Bill of Rights," including protections for children, parental awareness of chatbot activity, and name, image and likeness safeguards.
The Bill Both Are Actually Talking About
That bill already exists, and it already stalled. It passed the Florida Senate 35-2 this year before dying in the House. Speaker Daniel Perez, a Republican representing Miami, has repeatedly argued AI protections should be handled at the federal level.
Donalds has also softened his own position on data centers, now saying "local control" should prevail after previously insisting "there ain't no bans coming."
What This Means for Florida's Next Move
Congress isn't close to agreeing on a federal framework this year. That's despite competing bills like the AI Kill Switch Act and the FRONTIER Act. Even Amodei has said a kill switch requirement might be reasonable.
That leaves Florida's own stalled bill sitting exactly where Perez left it. Whoever wins November's governor's race inherits the same unresolved question he's been sitting on all year.
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