Page 26 - The South China Business Journal

D.C. TODAY
The U.S. needs federal
AI regulation to prevent
a costly patchwork of
conflicting state laws
that burden businesses
and threaten American
innovation leadership.
23 AMCHAM SOUTH CHINA
THE HIDDEN
COST OF
50 STATE AI
LAWS: A
DATA-DRIVEN
BREAKDOWN
By Jordan Crensha and Michael Richards,
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
rtificial intelligence (AI) presents a tremendous opportunity to
Aimprove efficiency and grow our economy. America has a distinct
advantage, with some of the leading technology firms in the world
making breakthroughs every year.
Unfortunately, there is a great deal of confusion around what laws
are needed to regulate emerging technologies like AI. The U.S.
Chamber supports common-sense, targeted regulations that place
appropriate guardrails around the use of AI, but many states have
struck out on their own and begun enacting broad and sweeping
AI regulations, causing a distressing ripple effect for Main Street
businesses across the country.
When businesses operate nationwide, they're effectively bound by the
most restrictive state laws because they operate in all 50 states?no
matter where they're headquartered. This reality was underscored by
President Donald Trump during the launch of his AI Action Plan, where
he called for a unified regulatory framework, stating, "[w]e also have to
have a single federal standard, not 50 different states regulating¡­"
Just look at the numbers: in 2025 alone, state legislators
introduced over 1,100 AI-related bills. Without federal action,
this growing patchwork of state regulations will continue to
stifle businesses and undermine the nation's innovation and
leadership in the technology sector.
Quantifying the Patchwork's Economic Toll
The U.S. Chamber recently conducted an economic analysis to
determine the costs of imposing comprehensive AI regulations
nationwide. Last year, Colorado passed SB-205, the nation's first