State legislator letter opposing federal AI preemption

 260 state legislators from all 50 states have signed a letter opposing a provision in the federal budget reconciliation bill that would limit state power in regulating AI. Texans signing this letter include:

Representative Angie Chen Button, Texas House of Representatives

Representative Josey Garcia, Texas House of Representatives

Representative Donna Howard, Texas House of Representatives

Representative John Lujan, Texas House of Representatives

Representative Candy Noble, Texas House of Representatives

Representative Claudia Ordaz, Texas House of Representatives

Representative Jared Patterson, Texas House of Representatives

Adieu—Federal chip manufacturing funds

5 competitively bid, congressionally authorized semiconductor manufacturing projects have been cancelled. These include already announced projects such as n aerospace HUB in WA & ID and a biotechnology center in AL. Some say these issue is that these projects included collaborations between health science centers and historically Black colleges and universities and had inclusion and diversity provisions. Has no one read any of the bajillion studies on the economic and community benefits of diversity and inclusion. You know, analytical data….

Geekwire | Spokane’s aerospace Tech Hub loses $48M federal grant, sparking regional outcry

KC datacenter approval

A datacenter project in Kansas City received planning commission approval for the 550-acre business park for construction of a $12.6 billion data center. The project is sensitive to nearby landowners and seeks to provide a great of a buffer as possible such as  eight-foot earth berms, 3,000 trees and other landscaping to obstruct the view of people living nearby. The project is expected to become the county’s largest property tax payer at an estimated $12.9 million annually.

Route Fifty | Kansas City, Kansas, planning commission advances proposed $12.6B data center

Legislative protections for geolocations

This month, Oregon became the 2nd state to ban the sale of precise geolocation data. Maryland passed a similar bill in 2024, which will be effective this fall.

Other states such as Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont are considering similar legislation. Similar legislation failed to pass this spring in California.

The Record | Oregon becomes second state to ban sale of precise geolocation data

AI and journalism

The Chicago Times publishes a Summer Reading list of 15 books. 5 of which were actual books. The other 10 books were complete fabrications from AI.

I’d say the 10 books are fiction, but that just gets punny and confusing. The content was created with generative AI and AI said- “I got you,” and chose to hallucinate up a bunch of nonexistent books. 

I think we got here because people aren’t reading enough books. 

NPR | How an AI-generated summer reading list got published in major newspapers

Concerns over AI in financial services

The Government Accountability Office released a report this week that raises concerns about AI use in financial services. The concerns include potentially biased lending decisions, data quality issues, privacy concerns, and new cybersecurity threats. The report also highlights that federal regulatory agencies don’t have the tools to oversee AI use.