The Justice Department is providing $300 million to wire American communities with AI, drones, plate scanners, and real-time surveillance centers, with the goal of creating a national blueprint. The procurement specifics reveal a totally different story than the news announcement.
The White House is dangling something the technology industry has wanted for years: a federal moratorium on state AI regulations, in exchange for a national age verification drive that will reduce anonymous internet use.
According to Axios, the administration is discussing federal preemption of state AI rules in exchange for congressional backing of key digital policy initiatives, including the Kids Online Safety Act, the NO FAKES Act, and age verification standards.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) is leading the discussions. “Senator Blackburn is spearheading the negotiation with the White House to finalize legislative text of an AI preemption package that includes protections for kids, creators, and communities through the Senate version of KOSA, the NO FAKES Act, and age verification requirements,” a spokesperson for Blackburn said.
The administration kept its terminology unclear. “The White House continues to engage proactively across government and industry,” a White House official stated.
Without the framing, the age verification portion asks for something specific from you. To prove your age, you can upload a government ID, submit to a facial scan, or allow a service to analyze your activity and guess your age. None of these confirm anything other than age. They confirm identify and leave a record that lasts beyond the check.
The internet, which previously allowed you to be a username, now demands your legal name, face, and documentation.
The broader exchange lies beneath the child-safety jargon. States have developed their own AI regulations, with some addressing how firms acquire biometric data and make choices about residents.
Preemption would freeze that, eliminating one of the only avenues for consumers to challenge how these services manage their data.
The moving also indicates which bills are fading. Reps. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) and Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) have proposed a bipartisan proposal for AI legislation, but it is unlikely to be implemented this Congress. This legislation would preempt state AI laws for three years and compel select developers to address hazards before publishing models.
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Side Bar: A license plate camera misread the scenario, and Hugo Parra nearly lost nearly a month of his life. Despite being five miles away from the scene of the alleged armed carjacking, he spent Thanksgiving incarcerated in a San Diego jail. The cops had been led to his friend’s red Alfa Romeo by a Flock automated license plate scanner, and that was enough.
He ended up someplace he never set foot in because of the very device that was meant to pinpoint his whereabouts. The three men told the police they had come from downtown, and the hit was more important than the 23-second impossibility, the missing weapon, the hoodie of the wrong color, and the other details.
This failure exemplifies how a recorded computer output can easily trump any human input in its vicinity. In an interview, Coolman laid out the bigger picture. I warned that widespread monitoring without reasonable doubt or common sense would lead to disastrous consequences. “The wider the surveillance net, the more likely it is that law enforcement will produce false positives.”
