Anthropic CEO Criticizes Proposed 10-Year Ban on State AI Regulation as ‘Too Blunt’

Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, argued in a New York Times opinion piece that a Republican proposal to block states from regulating artificial intelligence for 10 years is an overly blunt approach. Instead, he called for a coordinated federal effort by the White House and Congress to establish transparency standards for AI companies.

Amodei warned that a decade-long moratorium on state regulations would leave a regulatory gap with “no ability for states to act, and no national policy as a backstop,” especially given how rapidly AI technology is advancing.

The proposed ban, included in former President Donald Trump’s tax cut bill, seeks to preempt recent AI laws passed in several states. However, it has faced pushback from a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general who support state-level oversight of high-risk AI applications.

Amodei recommended a federal transparency standard requiring AI developers to implement rigorous testing and evaluation policies, disclose risk mitigation plans, and publicly share how they ensure the safety of their models before release.

He noted that Anthropic, supported by Amazon, already publishes such transparency reports, and competitors like OpenAI and Google DeepMind have adopted similar practices. Amodei suggested that legislation might be necessary to maintain transparency as AI models grow more powerful and corporate incentives to disclose risks may wane.