For the first time, Washington is getting close to deciding how to regulate artificial intelligence. And the fight that’s brewing isn’t about the technology, it’s about who gets to do the regulating.

In the absence of a meaningful federal AI standard that focuses on consumer safety, states have introduced dozens of bills to protect residents against AI-related harms, including California’s AI safety bill SB-53 and Texas’s Responsible AI Governance Act, which prohibits intentional misuse of AI systems.

The tech giants and buzzy startups born out of Silicon Valley argue such laws create an unworkable patchwork that threatens innovation.

“It’s going to slow us in the race against China,” Josh Vlasto, co-founder of pro-AI PAC Leading the Future, told TechCrunch.

The industry, and several o

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