Zhang Weighs In on the AI Moratorium Defeat in MIT Technology Review Article

July 25, 2025

MIT Technology Review

Baobao Zhang

Political Science Department

Autonomous Systems Policy Institute

Campbell Public Affairs Institute

Autonomous Systems

State & Local

United States

MIT Technology Review

Baobao Zhang

A proposed 10-year federal moratorium on state-level AI regulation was narrowly defeated, allowing state lawmakers to continue crafting their own AI policies. The measure’s collapse, driven by a surprising bipartisan coalition, reflects growing political concern over unregulated AI and a broader shift toward serious engagement with AI governance.

While major tech firms and Trump allies backed the moratorium, opponents—including Republicans and Democrats alike—rallied around the idea that local governments must retain the power to address AI’s wide-ranging societal impacts.

Baobao Zhang, Maxwell Dean Associate Professor of the Politics of AI, says that the administration may have been willing to give up on the moratorium in order to push through the rest of the bill by its self-imposed Independence Day deadline.

Read more in the MIT Technology Review article, “Why the AI moratorium’s defeat may signal a new political era.”