AI Needs Guardrails—Not a Freeway With No Speed Limits

Last week, the Senate advanced a version of President Trump’s sweeping budget package with a controversial addition: a 10-year moratorium on state-level AI regulation, cleverly tied to broadband infrastructure funding. In plain English? States must keep their hands off AI governance—or lose vital funding.

Let that sink in.

At Vengo AI, we believe in innovation. But we also believe innovation without accountability isn’t progress—it’s chaos. A national “hands-off” policy does one thing very effectively: it gives Big Tech a blank check to move fast and break things, with no one left to clean up the mess.

Photo by: Vengo AI

Here’s What’s at Stake

If this moratorium passes, states would be blocked from enforcing even the most basic consumer protections tied to AI:

• No rules to stop deepfakes that mislead voters.
• No laws to limit algorithmic discrimination in housing or employment.
• No local authority to demand safety standards in facial recognition or school surveillance tech.
• Not even laws that protect kids from addictive social media feeds.

Photo by: Vengo AI

And it’s not just civil regulation—criminal laws could be impacted too, depending on how the language is interpreted. That’s not protecting innovation. That’s stripping away any democratic input about how this transformative technology should work in our daily lives.

Innovation Thrives on Diverse Perspectives—Not Federal Gag Orders

At Vengo, we partner with small businesses across all 50 states. We’ve seen firsthand how local governments can move faster than Washington to adapt to tech’s evolving impact. State innovation drives experimentation. When a law doesn’t work? It gets refined. When does it work? It sets a standard.

By removing states from the equation, this proposal bottlenecks the most important part of innovation: feedback. Real, human-centered input from people closest to the problems AI is supposed to solve.

What We Need: Smarter Federal Standards—Not a Blanket Ban

Yes, we need cohesive national policies for AI safety. But handcuffing all 50 states for a decade with no clear federal plan in sight? That’s not leadership—it’s abdication.

Federal regulation should empower ethical development, reward transparency, and protect against harm. But until that exists, states should not be silenced. We should be amplifying their voices, not threatening their funding.

Photo by: Vengo AI

The Bottom Line: The AI Wild West Isn’t a Future We Want

This moratorium doesn’t protect innovation. It protects profit—at the cost of public trust.

At Vengo AI, we’re building tools that help businesses scale responsibly, guided by transparent ethics and user-first design. We believe that AI should be powerful—but also safe, equitable, and accountable.

That future doesn’t come from sweeping regulation under the rug. It comes from thoughtful laws, local experimentation, and a commitment to making AI work for people, not just platforms.

Let’s not choose speed over safety—or silence over democracy.