AFP Foundation Files Lawsuit Over President Biden’s AI Overreach

Jan 26, 2024 by AFP

AI is here to stay. It is a reality, not an emergency.

Arlington, Va. – Americans for Prosperity Foundation today filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) complaint seeking information about why the Biden Administration invoked emergency powers to regulate artificial intelligence.

Click here to view the complaint.

On November 14, 2023, AFP Foundation launched a FOIA investigation into President Biden’s October 30, 2023 Executive Order on the “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.” Nearly two months later, AFP Foundation has yet to receive a response from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The order includes miles of red tape and new far-reaching regulatory requirements for artificial intelligence. The order invokes the Defense Production Act in an unprecedented way that would radically expand executive powers over private industry. It appears to claim novel authority under the DPA to impose reporting requirements on AI developers, seemingly even if the developer does not have a contractual relationship with the government.

Too often, presidents exploit emergency powers to bypass Congress to implement preferred policy outcomes. AFP Foundation’s FOIA requests aim to bring transparency to the Biden administration’s actions on AI as part of the Emergency Powers Reform Project, which leverages the FOIA to help educate the public and lawmakers on ways emergency powers are abused.

AFP Foundation Investigative Analyst Thomas Kimbrell said:

“The Biden administration’s decision to invoke the Defense Production Act to regulate artificial intelligence is a troubling imposition of regulatory overreach. The DPA is intended to provide for national defense during times of war or national emergency. Emergency powers are meant to be temporary, but it is unclear what the administration’s end game is here. AFP Foundation is seeking transparency from the administration on its authority and intentions to use the DPA in such a novel way.”

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