DeSantis Wants AI Guardrails

As Florida lawmakers debate AI legislation in the state’s capital, Gov. Ron DeSantis is making an all-out push to the finish line.

The 47-year-old Republican is in the last year of his second four-year term as governor, making him ineligible to run again.

So he’s spending his political capital as he runs “through the tape,” he told The Epoch Times during an interview at the Florida Governor’s Mansion.

He’s hoping for lawmakers to pass his proposed AI Bill of Rights. He said it is needed to protect Floridians and the state’s natural resources from the potential harms of unrestricted and explosive growth of artificial intelligence.

Senate Bill 482, dubbed the AI Bill of Rights, and the identical House Bill 1395 are taking separate journeys through the Florida Legislature, being examined by committees in both chambers. Lawmakers have until mid-March to pass the legislation.

DeSantis hopes they’ll pass, be merged into one bill, and sent to his desk for his signature, along with another bill meant to regulate the growth of data centers needed to power AI.

The governor realizes this legislative push may set him up for clashes with President Donald Trump, who has called for states not to meddle much in regulating AI. He and Trump, a former political mentor who helped DeSantis get elected in 2018, have vacillated between being allies and adversaries, with a warming of relations in the past year.

But DeSantis, a Harvard-trained lawyer, former congressman, and father of three young children, says curbing the creep of AI can’t wait.

Guardrails are needed now, he said, to protect the state’s people, jobs, economy, and environment from harm.

In December 2025, DeSantis announced his proposal for the AI Bill of Rights, which covers data privacy, parental controls for children’s interactions with AI, requirements for consumers to be alerted when dealing with AI, and much more.

The measure is needed, he said, because rapidly expanding AI technology already infiltrates daily life in everything from retail purchases to medical care. And often, people don’t realize they’re interacting with a technological tool, rather than a human, he said.

“Any new technology, as it’s developed, needs to be developed in an ethical way, in a moral way, and it’s got to reinforce our values as Americans,” DeSantis said. “And it cannot be something that is seeking to supplant the human experience. It needs to enhance the human experience

“I get very nervous when I hear these people talk about this transhumanism as where somehow humans aren’t going to be in control, and the AI is going to rule the world,” he said.

That goes against what it means to be an American, he said.

“Our Founding Fathers, 250 years ago—they set forth the rule: We’re endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, not [by] machines.”

He said, “there’s a lot of good that can come with technological innovation,” such as in medicine and national defense. “We welcome that in these particular areas, but there’s also really big downsides.”

Some of the proposed legislation would reinforce protections Florida previously passed against so-called “deepfakes” and explicit AI-created materials, including those depicting minors.

Deepfakes are realistic-looking images, videos, or audio recordings altered to make them appear as if a person has done or said something he or she didn’t do or say. Using AI, deepfakes can mimic a person’s likeness or voice well enough to fool others into believing they’re real.

The legislation would prohibit using AI to depict an individual without consent, such as in an advertisement or criminal scheme. And it would require notice when a person is interacting with AI, such as in a chatbot.

Chatbots simulate human conversations, often in customer service phone calls or messaging tools.

The new measure would prohibit state and local government agencies from using AI tools created by “foreign countries of concern,” such as China. And it would require what’s put into AI platforms by users to be kept private and block it from being sold.

DeSantis’s proposal would also prohibit businesses from offering what they call “licensed” therapy or mental health counseling to clients who interact with AI for that care.

And it would establish controls allowing children’s conversations with AI to be limited and monitored by parents. If a child “exhibits concerning behavior” when interacting with AI, the legislation would require that parents be notified.

The legislation also would limit how insurance companies use AI to decide on whether to pay insurance claims.

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—Nanette Holt and Natasha Holt

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