The White House scheduled a meeting Thursday afternoon to discuss legislation on kids' online safety and preemption of state artificial intelligence laws.
An invitation sent Wednesday by Hailey Borden, deputy director of the White House’s Office of Public Liaison, described the session as "an off the record discussion on kids safety and preemption," and two people granted anonymity said groups advocating for online safety were invited and that the discussion would focus on a package of AI regulations being assembled by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).
The meeting followed several meetings last week that top White House officials convened with tech companies and children's safety groups to discuss the legislative push.
The latest invitation did not name which groups were invited, and the White House and Blackburn's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Lawmakers and White House officials are continuing to iron out details of the legislative package, which is expected to include versions of the NO FAKES Act, the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA, and the App Store Accountability Act, or AASA; the NO FAKES Act would create new regulations against AI deepfakes and other AI-generated replicas and advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, KOSA aims to hold companies to stricter design standards that would prioritize child safety, and AASA would require minors to obtain parental verification before downloading apps.
Meta, which helped kill KOSA two years ago after a fierce lobbying fight, dropped its opposition to the specific bill now that it’s expected to be linked to a limited preemption of state AI laws and AASA, which would put the onus on app store platforms like Google and Apple to verify users' ages.
Blackburn’s forthcoming package is expected to face opposition in the Senate, where she’ll be tasked with winning over leadership and key voices on AI like Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Asked about the talks on Thursday afternoon, Cruz told reporters only: "We’re all working collectively." Blackburn echoed the sentiment that discussions are ongoing, saying, "We’re going to have more to say about that sometime soon."
Conservative groups including former Vice President Mike Pence’s Advancing American Freedom and the Taxpayers Protection Alliance wrote to Cruz and Commerce ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) on Wednesday warning that ASAA "would threaten the privacy and data security of Americans of all ages." Their letter included signees from the industry coalition Chamber of Progress — which was founded by former Google executive Adam Kovacevich — and trade group NetChoice, whose members include Google, OpenAI and Amazon.