Tucked inside the Senate’s 940-page reconciliation package is a controversial provision that would discourage states from enforcing almost any law related to artificial intelligence or algorithms for 10 years. 

The moratorium on state AI laws has undergone multiple revisions to survive the Senate’s arcane rules governing reconciliation legislation. Under the final language, states would be subject to the moratorium if they take even one dollar from a newly created $500 million state AI infrastructure fund as part of the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program.

Rebranded as a “temporary pause” on state AI laws, the moratorium is a trojan horse that could tie states’ hands for years and jeopardize their rural broadband funding. Even worse, the new funding pool linked to the moratorium could be leveraged to induce small rural states to rollback restrictions on AI-enabled child sexual exploitation and loosen guardrails on Big Tech.

Proponents stress that states are subject to the moratorium “if and........

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