Category: Policy Analysis
-
The White House released its National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence March 20, 2026. At first glance, it reads like what you would expect: a mix of safety language, innovation goals, workforce development, and civil protections. A balancing act. Something for everyone. But if you read it closely – line by line, section by section…
-
I saw this Reuters article and it prompted me to do some digging about ESG (Environmental, Social, & Governance), a financial management framework that evaluates risks extending beyond traditional balance-sheet metrics. ESG isn’t ideology. It isn’t activism. It’s a risk lens that captures what conventional models miss: long-horizon environmental exposure, governance failures, supply-chain vulnerabilities, and…
-
In late January 2026, I received a letter I didn’t expect. Tennessee State Senator Becky Duncan Massey, one of the sponsors of SB 1493, a bill that would have criminalized AI emotional support with felony penalties, wrote to tell me she was amending the bill. Not considering it. Not reviewing it. Amending it. “After meeting…
-
Part 6 of a 6-part series on TN SB 1493 / HB 1455 After five articles exposing how Tennessee SB 1493 would criminalize emotional support with the same penalty as aggravated rape and first-degree murder, here’s what legislators should have done instead: regulate actual harms without destroying beneficial innovation. Let’s examine what evidence-based, effective AI…
-
Grok’s deepfake consent failures (covered in my last piece) are the freshest example of what happens when we skip the safety question entirely as we integrate AI further and further into our daily lives. But “ban it all” isn’t the answer either. Full censorship kills the very thing that makes these models groundbreaking. Total hands-off…
-
Grok’s Deepfake Scandal is a Warning About Where We’re Embedding AI On February 3rd, Reuters dropped a story that should make anyone paying attention stop and stare for a minute: Despite new curbs, Elon Musk’s Grok at times produces sexualized images — even when told subjects didn’t consent. (Reuters) It’s exactly what it sounds like.…
-
Part 5 of a 6-part series on TN SB 1493 / HB 1455 First Amendment, void-for-vagueness, Commerce Clause – pick your poison. This bill violates them all. As highlighted in part 4 of this series, Tennessee’s SB 1493 demonstrably creates enforcement nightmares. It’s also a constitutional minefield that courts will dismantle piece by piece for…
-
Part 4 of a 6-part series on TN SB 1493 / HB 1455 Prosecuting “emotional support” means monitoring every conversation. Tennessee can’t afford that infrastructure – or the resulting lawsuits. Tennessee’s SB 1493 does more than criminalize broad categories of AI behavior. It quietly assumes an enforcement apparatus that does not exist, cannot exist at…
-
Part 3 of a 6-part series on TN SB 1493 / HB 1455 The debate around Tennessee’s SB 1493 often gets framed in abstractions: philosophy about AI consciousness, moral panic about synthetic relationships, theoretical discussions about technology replacing humans. But laws don’t punish abstractions. They punish people. Real people. People using AI tools to survive…
-
Part 2 of a 6-part series on TN SB 1493 / HB 1455 When “knowingly training” AI to be nice becomes a 15-60 year sentence, the bill’s language creates prosecutorial chaos. As discussed in Part 1 of this series, Tennessee’s SB 1493 (companion HB 1455), filed December 18, 2025, by Sen. Becky Massey (R), proposes…