Texas politicians call for guardrails on AI, data centers
Texas politicians are calling for guardrails on artificial intelligence and data centers, with the Texas legislature having already passed a broad AI regulation bill. While the federal government has yet to address AI regulation, Texas's House Bill 149 created an AI advisory council and banned certain harmful uses of AI. A proposed federal moratorium on state-level AI regulations was ultimately rejected.
Candidates for one of Texas's U.S. Senate seats have called for guardrails on artificial intelligence and data centers. KXAN's State of Texas Anchor Josh Hinkle spoke with Nexstar State Bureau Reporter Adam Schwager about the Texas legislature's efforts in this area.
The Texas legislature passed House Bill 149, known as the Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Act, during its last session. This bill is considered one of the broadest AI regulation bills in the nation. It established an AI advisory council, created "sandbox tools" for developers to test models with fewer restrictions before public release, and banned specific harmful uses of AI, such as social scoring systems and discrimination.
Initially, the bill's implementation was nearly jeopardized by a federal debate over a proposed provision in the "one big beautiful bill act." This provision would have imposed a 10-year moratorium on any state-level AI regulations. However, after significant backlash, this provision was stripped out with a near-unanimous 99-1 vote, as lawmakers recognized the difficulty of preventing states from regulating AI while the federal government itself had not yet acted.