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Today, Explained

AI: 1 — Humanity: 0

17 Dec 2025

Transcription

Chapter 1: Why are people concerned about AI regulation?

1.398 - 23.432 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.

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Chapter 2: What is the AI Bill of Rights proposed by Governor DeSantis?

23.952 - 30.032 Noel King

Before taking his own life. There are people who are suing employers claiming that AI discriminated against them.

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30.052 - 43.61 Unknown

HR software company Workday is being sued over allegations of ageism. The plaintiffs were rejected every time. They blame Workday's algorithm, which they claim disqualifies individuals over the age of 40.

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43.93 - 46.914 Noel King

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

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47.014 - 50.659 Unknown

We live right down the street and we don't want this shit to happen, man.

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50.825 - 58.422 Noel King

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.

60.325 - 82.752 Unknown

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Chapter 3: How are lawsuits against AI companies impacting the industry?

91.774 - 118.75 Unknown

Try Odoo for free at odoo.com. That's O-D-O-O dot com. Support for this show comes from Odoo. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odoo. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one, fully integrated platform that makes your work easier.

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119.371 - 142.95 Unknown

CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more. And the best part? Odoo replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch. So why not you? Try Odoo for free at Odoo.com. That's O-D-O-O dot com.

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142.97 - 147.977 Donald Trump

There's only going to be one winner here, and it's probably going to be... Today Explained.

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149.003 - 176.459 Noel King

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.

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176.519 - 202.177 Noel King

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.

202.237 - 206.802 Noel King

They're like, oh gosh, we need to take care of this right now, especially since we're the hub of the tech industry.

Chapter 4: What does President Trump's executive order on AI entail?

206.922 - 212.407 Noel King

Let's make a law. Here we go. Tonight, Governor Newsom signing into law a new AI regulation.

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Transparency and Frontier Artificial Intelligence Act, or SB53. It is the first to focus on the safety of these powerful AI models.

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222.477 - 227.762 Noel King

Texas starts seeing social threats that AI poses to their kids.

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House Bill 149 requires governments to disclose how they use AI, bans images encouraging self-harm and criminal activity, bans social scoring and the use of sexual images of children. Texas is with this bill signaling to the country and the world that we are going to be the epicenter of responsible innovation with AI.

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247.604 - 269.21 Noel King

Texas is able to put that law together, implement it very quickly. Once you get to Congress, so many different interests are colliding. Like you'll have Colorado, for instance, who just put this law in place saying that hiring decisions can't rely on AI to commit algorithmic bias.

269.53 - 283.592 Unknown

I think if you're applying for a loan and you're denied, you should have the right to know why. If we're a leader in innovation and technology, what's wrong with being a leader in safe innovation and technology?

283.772 - 307.894 Noel King

Then you might have a red state come in going, when you say algorithmic bias, do you mean woke stuff? And then that fight starts happening in Congress. And in the meantime, unless there's laws on the state level that address any of these concerns, there will be no laws addressing these concerns. All right. So the 50 U.S. states are trying to make laws that are applicable to them.

307.914 - 310.096 Noel King

And in the meantime.

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Well, thank you very much. We have a big signing right now.

Chapter 5: Why do states want to regulate AI now?

798.659 - 819.988 Noel King

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820.569 - 840.043 Noel King

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840.644 - 852.183 Noel King

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852.364 - 854.888 Unknown

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854.868 - 870.818 Noel King

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876.063 - 890.726 Unknown

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924.427 - 952.932 Noel King

Hey, ChatGPT, can you introduce Today Explained?

Chapter 6: How is David Sachs influencing AI policy?

1466.05 - 1484.106 Noel King

And he's made that clear. And for the moment, the president says there will be no AI regulation. On the other hand, you have American citizens, many of whom vote, saying we are concerned about AI. We want laws around this stuff. So as we try to project over the next couple of years,

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1484.086 - 1510.262 Noel King

So which side of this do you think is going to end up winning, David Sachs or, you know, the concerned citizens of America? Just in the last couple of months, we've seen this particular question really gear up for a fight because you have increasing concerns, right, from parents who are reading these stories about chatbots, you know, encouraging teenagers to die by suicide or, you

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1510.242 - 1532.154 Noel King

manipulating them in ways that look extremely uncomfortable when you start reading the chats. My son said explicitly to the spot on several occasions that he wanted to die by suicide, but there weren't any mechanisms to protect him. And at the same time, you have people kind of pushing back in an organized way against having more data centers in their neighborhood.

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1532.355 - 1546.105 Noel King

And the idea that we're going to literally change the landscape of the country and other countries in order to power this technology that CEOs say is going to put everybody out of work.

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1546.642 - 1557.317 Unknown

We are absolutely worried about this and other energy infrastructure increases from data centers driving up our electric bills and our neighbors' electric bills because it already has been.

1557.337 - 1570.594 Noel King

So I would say, you know, before maybe some of the chatbot pushback, you would have had the industry get its way. And I think that the industry will still be able to push. win.

1570.614 - 1600.155 Noel King

And I think that some of the like the ability to do little carve outs for child safety, for issues that are kind of like kitchen table issues or things that just sound terribly bad, like encouraging a child to commit suicide, you know, you might be able to get some restrictions on that. But the thing that will really shape how the tech industry has to behave is any checks on its ability to grow.

1600.304 - 1609.973 Noel King

I'm not saying that it's futile. I think drawing attention to these issues could hopefully potentially change the outcome towards what voters want, what people want.

1610.474 - 1644.076 Noel King

But I think that we should watch for that distinction between some of these little safeguards that nominally seem like they're going to protect people or carve out a safe space for them and some of the bigger, more existential factors. Natasha Tiku, tech culture reporter. What a beat. The Washington Post. Today's show was produced by Danielle Hewitt and Avishai Artsy.

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