Florida Takes a Lead Role in the State Push to Regulate AI and Big Tech
Florida has emerged as an aggressive regulator of artificial intelligence and major technology platforms, using litigation, child-protection requirements and proposed safeguards, according to reporting published October 30.
Florida is emerging as an unlikely leader in the state push to regulate artificial intelligence and big technology platforms. Reporting published October 30 describes the state using litigation, child-protection requirements and proposed safeguards to challenge the federal government's preference for lighter oversight, with Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier casting technology oversight as a defense of children, consumer privacy and human agency.
The state's most consequential actions involve OpenAI. According to the reporting, Florida opened a criminal investigation in April after reviewing communications between ChatGPT and the suspected gunman in the fatal 2025 shooting at Florida State University, then in June filed what was described as the first state civil lawsuit against OpenAI and its chief executive, alleging the company knowingly released an unsafe product. In September, the attorney general sought a temporary injunction that would bar new model development without stringent safety safeguards.
Florida has also pursued social media companies. A 2024 Florida law prohibits social media accounts for children younger than 14 and requires parental consent for certain older minors, and the state joined New Mexico in rejecting a proposed $18 billion Meta child-safety settlement, according to the reporting. The effort has not been unanimous inside the state: House Speaker Daniel Perez blocked a proposed AI Bill of Rights after it passed the Senate, and a December presidential executive order pushed toward a minimally burdensome national standard — a widening state-federal divide over who sets the rules for the digital economy.
