Attorney General Jeff Jackson has expressed concerns regarding a recent executive order related to artificial intelligence. In his statement, Jackson argued that the order prevents states from enforcing their own protections before Congress establishes a national framework.
“This executive order gets the sequence backward – it tries to block state protections now, based on the hope that Congress might act later. But Congress has had years to address this in a serious way, and it hasn’t,” Jackson said.
He acknowledged efforts by North Carolina’s General Assembly and lawmakers in other states to implement basic safeguards against AI-related threats such as abuse, scams, and robocalls. “To its credit, North Carolina’s General Assembly put basic safeguards in place. Republicans and Democrats in other states did the same to protect people from abusers, scammers, and robocallers. Wiping out those types of laws before any national replacement exists is a massive risk because if Congress does nothing – which it often does – we could end up with zero safeguards against AI abuse,” he stated.
Jackson also noted the importance of American leadership in AI regulation but warned about removing state-level protections without federal action. “Yes, America needs to lead on AI, and overregulation has risks. But there’s also a big risk in stripping states of their ability to defend people from the real abuses already happening with this technology. Don’t handcuff the states before Congress does its job,” he added.
He concluded by urging federal lawmakers to pass comprehensive legislation before restricting state actions: “Let’s see Congress actually pass a national AI framework, then let’s talk.”
