Florida is emerging as an aggressive regulator of artificial intelligence (AI) and major technology platforms, using litigation, child protection requirements and proposed safeguards to challenge the federal government’s preference for lighter oversight.
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The state is an unlikely leader in that effort. Its conservative Republican governor and legislature might ordinarily be associated with limiting government intervention in business. But Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier have cast technology oversight as a defense of children, consumer privacy and human agency, according to Streamline.
Their campaign highlights a widening state-federal divide over who should set the rules for the digital economy. It also demonstrates that pressure for stronger technology regulation extends beyond Democratic-led states such as California and New York.
Florida’s most consequential actions include its confrontation with OpenAI. The state opened a criminal investigation in April after reviewing communications between ChatGPT and the suspected gunman in the fatal 2025 shooting at Florida State University.
In June, Florida filed what Streamline describes as the first state civil lawsuit against OpenAI and Chief Executive Sam Altman, alleging the company knowingly released an unsafe product that facilitates self-harm and violence. Those allegations remain claims, rather than findings of liability.
Uthmeier subsequently sought a temporary injunction in September that would bar OpenAI from developing new models without stringent safety safeguards. The request would extend the state’s intervention beyond compensation for alleged injuries to restrictions on future product development.
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