DeSantis Pushes AI Bill of Rights Through Florida Legislature

Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday ramped up pressure on the Florida House to pass a revived AI Bill of Rights just days before a special legislative session, after the Florida Senate earlier approved sweeping AI regulations during the 60-day regular session. The push follows a landmark criminal investigation announced by Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier into OpenAI for an alleged connection between ChatGPT interactions and the Florida State University shooter. DeSantis framed the measure as protecting citizens from "big tech" and told reporters voters will ask why lawmakers side with companies over people.

The publicly described provisions include a ban on companion chatbots talking with minors without parental consent and penalties that allow removal from office for local officials who violate the law. The House did not take up the measure during the regular session, with Speaker Daniel Perez aligning with President Donald Trump's call for a single federal regulatory framework instead. The state-level push ties a legislative response to an active criminal probe of company conduct and model behavior.

This is a sharp example of state-level regulatory escalation that links real-world harms to model outputs. Combining criminal investigation with fast-tracked legislation raises the stakes for AI companies and deployers: legal liability, operational compliance, and product safety controls will be front-and-center. It also highlights the federal-versus-state tension; an industry preferring uniform federal rules now faces patchwork state mandates that could set substantive precedents.

The special session outcome, details of AG Uthmeier's criminal inquiry, and any legal challenges that follow will determine how quickly these rules translate into engineering and compliance requirements for model providers and integrators.