Noel King

People are worried about AI and they want states to make laws to protect them.

Megan Garcia appeared with Governor Ron DeSantis at a press conference this week where the governor proposed an AI Bill of Rights.

Megan's teenage son talked to a bot about suicide.

The bot didn't stop and say, I'm an AI.

It sounds like you're having a problem.

You need to talk to a human.

Before taking his own life.

There are people who are suing employers claiming that AI discriminated against them.

And there are people worried about data centers being built in their backyards.

But President Trump just signed an executive order that threatens states with lawsuits if they try to pass AI laws.

That's coming up on Today Explained.

My name is Tina Nguyen.

I'm a senior reporter at The Verge.

I cover big politics versus big tech and the way that technology and the tech industry has started to shape politics and civil society.

Why do individual U.S.

states want to regulate AI?

It's because they're the only people who can do it right now immediately.

Congress is famously very bad at passing laws.

Right now, there is very little chance that a comprehensive AI bill will be put together soon enough to address the immediate concerns that families, employers, workers, anyone who interacts with a computer will have about artificial intelligence.

California sees this risk on the horizon.