Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday on Monday said he would defend any artificial intelligence regulations passed by the General Assembly from Trump administration efforts to block them in court.
"If there's a statute that is attacked for its constitutionality, then we will absolutely defend it," the first-term Republican told reporters gathered in his office.
AI policy is one of the few areas where Sunday, a Republican elected alongside Trump last fall, has taken a public stand against the administration. In recent months, Sunday has joined with other state attorneys general to sign letters voicing their opposition to a federal ban on state-level AI regulations.
Trump signed such an executive order last week, but it's unclear how it will impact some AI laws in Pennsylvania, including one that classified nonconsensual deepfakes — using AI tools to create realistic impersonations of real people — as a type of digital forgery.
Trump's order depicts the United States as being in a battle for global dominance over AI technological advancements.
"To win, United States AI companies must be free to innovate without cumbersome regulation," Trump's order read. "But excessive State regulation thwarts this imperative."
The order creates an AI task force under the U.S. Attorney General to challenge state laws the Trump administration deems too "burdensome" on AI developments.
Sunday, a former York County district attorney and prosecutor, said the rapid proliferation of AI technology in many aspects of life has him concerned for his son, whose generation he said is learning about how to use AI in school.
"It's expected that they not only utilize it, but really understand it well," Sunday said. "So you're walking them to a place that bad actors can use to cause tremendous harm. And so we have to be in a position to be able to hold those bad actors accountable."
Sunday pointed to reported instances where children are turning to ChatGPT or other large language models to discuss mental health issues, including suicidal thoughts. He joined more than 40 state attorneys general this week in sending a letter to some of the most popular AI developers — like OpenAI, Google, Meta and Microsoft — urging them to adopt more safeguards to "better combat sycophantic and delusional outputs and protect the public."
Undermining legislation
Trump's order excludes three vague categories of AI legislation from potential prosecution: "child safety protections," those dealing with data centers and other AI infrastructure, and state governments' use of AI programs.
The first carveout should shield Pennsylvania's law banning underage porn created with AI deepfake programs.
A spokesperson for state Sen. Tracy Pennycuick, R-Montgomery, who introduced that legislation, said she was not available for an interview on Monday.
Pennycuick chairs the Communications & Technology Committee. She and her House counterpart, state Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-Montgomery, have for months opposed the Trump administration's plan to ban state-level AI regulations.
Ciresi on Monday said he was glad to hear that Sunday would defend the state's enacted laws.
"Residents are telling us, 'We want to see regulation on AI,' " Ciresi said. "They're scared of it. They're scared of the things that could happen with AI."
Ciresi, who noted state lawmakers acted in the absence of clear federal regulations, said Pennsylvania legislators will not slow their efforts to further regulate AI, especially the technology's use in political campaigns heading into next year's midterm elections.
Misinformation, Ciresi said, will spread quickly without any further restrictions.
"To have 50 different laws can be a problem in industry, and we don't want that," Ciresi said. "But we can't sit back and let nothing happen and (let) anyone do what they want to do."
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