Our Democratic governor is in synch with our Republican president on at least one issue: the regulation of artificial intelligence. Both agree any guardrails on development and use of AI technology ideally should come from Washington — rather than be imposed haphazardly though a regulatory patchwork woven state by state.

So, Jared Polis has Donald Trump to thank for issuing an executive order last week blocking states from mandating their own regulations for artificial intelligence. The presidential directive gives Colorado an easy out from its own bungled and, as yet, unresolved attempt to regulate AI. Polis has been hoping for just such an exit even if he hasn’t said so in as many words.

The president’s premise is that the burgeoning and rapidly proliferating technology is at risk of being stifled in the U.S. by a crazy quilt of conflicting rules while tech rival China surges ahead.

Trump is right, and Polis knows it though it’s unlikely we’ll hear effusive praise from him for the president in indelibly blue Colorado. Suffice it to say the governor has been on record saying AI regulation should be left to Congress. Polis also has acknowledged regrets from the very beginning over signing Colorado’s legislation on the subject into law last year. 

Implementation of Colorado’s heavy-handed AI law already has been delayed until next June. Now, it should be put on permanent hold pending a federal regulatory framework that treats the technology and the industry behind it the same in all 50 states. And Congress also would be wise to use a light touch in the regulations it seeks to put in place.

It’s of course not a safe assumption Colorado will heed the president’s executive order, and that’s all the more cause for worry. The law the legislature cobbled together in 2024 is almost assured to hamstring the technology’s use in our state and scare off its tech-sector developers. 

Our “equity”-obsessed legislature’s overwrought fear — that AI inevitably will involve discrimination against various consumers — has become the tail wagging the dog for lawmakers. That’s why they have resisted changes to the current unworkable law despite pressure from the Governor’s Office. Central to the problem with the 2024 law is its focus on countering “algorithmic discrimination.” It sets unattainable standards for development and use of AI-driven software that would miss their mark and succeed only in squelching the technology and chasing off AI innovators to less oppressive states. An economic analysis released recently by Colorado’s Common Sense Institute says the law “could impose severe economic costs on the state if it goes into effect…”

Let’s hope our lawmakers are mindful of the provisions in the executive order letting the federal government crack down on excessive state regs’ like Colorado’s; it’s one of only four states to go it alone on the subject so far. The executive order directs the U.S. attorney general to create a new task force to challenge state laws. It also directs the U.S. Commerce Department to draw up a list of problematic regulations among the states and threatens to restrict funding from a broadband deployment program and other grant programs to states with AI laws.

In principle, nobody likes federal meddling. But it’s justifiable when intended to restrain state government meddling — that could smother the development of an epochal technology and the economic expansion that goes with it.

The executive order is a reprieve for Colorado, sparing it from its lawmakers’ own worst instincts. Polis should press the legislature when it convenes next month to scrap its misbegotten measure and punt to Congress.