Tallahassee puts focus on artificial intelligence, declares ‘AI Week’

Don’t laugh, but this week will be “Artificial Intelligence Week” in Tallahassee. Because if there’s anything our elected officials need more of it’s that, right?
And just next week? Nah. Of course not. It’s always artificial intelligence day in Tally. This week is just when it’s official
Florida House Speaker Daniel “Danny” Perez has declared Dec. 8th through 12th “Artificial Intelligence Week” and has assigned a group of lawmakers to spend the final interim week “studying the growing effects of AI.”
It makes sense if you think about it: They are surrounded by artificial intelligence every session — lobbyists writing bills, ghostwritten talking points, and those press releases where legislators pretend they understand technology beyond their iPhones.
But this is different.
“We all recognize that AI may open new economic vistas,” Perez wrote in a memo earlier this month, before immediately throwing in a warning. “At the same time, we see stories about how AI can be abused, have adverse effects on education, or harm emotionally vulnerable users.”
Ladra didn’t know he was talking about TikTok-addicted teenagers and the Florida Legislature, but mira, he’s not wrong. Recently, an older Republican relative asked about a story she saw on her feed about the Marco Rubio clinic that doesn’t exist.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, meanwhile, has already been warning about “very dangerous” impacts of AI — though somehow not as dangerous as the bipartisan bill he vetoed this summer that would have actually studied its impact on Florida jobs. That bill passed with only one dissenting vote, probably the one legislator who still thinks Ask Jeeves is a thing.
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This is not completely new to the legislature. Last year, DeSantis did sign a bill requiring disclaimers on certain political ads made with AI. So now campaigns will be forced to tell voters when the lies were generated by machines and when they were generated the old-fashioned way: by political consultants.
He also signed a bill creating an advisory council on new technologies. Which, judging from past advisory councils, will produce exactly one glossy report no one reads and then disappear into the same drawer where the state keeps its “inflation relief gas cards” and “COVID data transparency.”
Back in Miami and not to be outdone, former Miami City Manager Emilio Gonzalez, who is in a tight runoff for mayor, rolled out a whole tech-future vision last month. Blockchain, crypto, AI — all the buzzwords. Miami as the world capital of emerging tech. Jobs, innovation, unicorns, pixie dust. Ladra has seen this movie before. It starred Francis Suarez, cost the taxpayers a fortune and ended after the FBI started asking questions.
But sure, let’s do it again.
And while Speaker Danny Perez and the Tallahassee brain trust spend the week “exploring” the promise and perils of AI, Congress is already moving on one of the biggest, scariest threats out there: the scammers.
A new bipartisan bill — yes, bipartisan, a word as rare in D.C. as a Miami commissioner without a side hustle — would jack up the penalties for con artists who use AI to fake voices, faces or entire identities. It’s called the AI Fraud Deterrence Act, sponsored by Rep. Ted Lieu, a California Democrat who actually understands technology, and Rep. Neal Dunn, a Republican from Maryland who probably just knows a good idea when he sees one.
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Under their proposal, anyone using AI tools to create fake audio, video or texts to commit fraud could get slammed with $1 to $2 million in fines and 20 to 30 years in prison. That’s mail fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering — you name it. Oh, and if you use AI to impersonate a government official? Up to $1 million and three years in the slammer. No get-out-of-jail-free card just because the voice on the line isn’t technically “you.”
“Both everyday Americans and government officials have been victims of fraud and scams using AI,” Lieu said, warning that it’s not just grandma getting tricked out of her savings anymore. It’s national security in the crosshairs when someone can clone a Cabinet secretary’s voice for kicks.
And that’s not hypothetical. It’s literally happening. Federal investigators are still chasing down whoever spoofed calls and texts earlier this year using White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles’ number — calls that went to senators, governors, CEOs and anyone else on speed dial. Donald Trump himself confirmed that “they breached the phone” and tried to impersonate her. Several of the VIPs told reporters the voice sounded AI-generated. Ladra bets it didn’t try to sell them solar panels or miracle gummies, either.
Then there was the summer drama when bad actors were impersonating Secretary of State Marco Rubio — yes, we’re still getting used to saying that — sending bogus voicemails and encrypted messages to foreign ministers and elected officials. Rubio has been deepfaked before, too, including a clip that made it look like he told CNN he’d pressure Elon Musk to shut off Starlink in Ukraine. (Relax, Elon. Nobody’s coming for your satellites. Yet.)
And it’s not just politicians. Taylor Swift has had her face and body dragged into every kind of AI-generated basura imaginable — scams, porn, political attacks. Meanwhile, President Biden had his voice cloned in a robocall scam cooked up by a Democratic consultant trying to help Dean Phillips in the New Hampshire primary. (Phillips didn’t win, but the consultant did get himself a federal investigation, so there’s that.)
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So while Tallahassee hosts panels about whether AI can help you pay your water bill or catch potholes faster, Washington is dealing with the version of AI that can tank a bank account, a campaign or an entire government.
Perez wants House members to show up this week with “questions and opinions.” Which is cute, considering most of them usually show up with pre-printed position sheets from the governor’s office or their handler and the vague fear/hope someone on their staff remembered to charge their tablets.
The Speaker also called the issue “complicated by the rapid emergence of this complex technology,” which is Tallahassee-speak for: “We don’t know what the hell this thing is but we already plan to regulate it.”
He wants subcommittee chairs to “facilitate” discussions about the positive and negative impacts of AI within their specific areas — consumer protection, education, public safety, economic development, etc. Facilitate? That’s a fancy way of saying attempt moderation while half the members try to figure out if AI is the thing that drives Teslas or the voice in their grandkid’s video game.
Honestly, Ladra is all for Tallahassee studying artificial intelligence. If they study it long enough, maybe they’ll get some artificial knowledge. Or who knows — maybe next session they’ll pass bills written by ChatGPT instead of the same 10 lobbyists who’ve been ghostwriting laws since the Jeb Bush era.
Either way, mark your calendars: Dec. 8–12, the Florida House tries to learn what AI is during Artificial Intelligence Week.
Artificial. Intelligence. Week. In Tallahassee. Where the artificial part is abundant and the intelligence… bueno, we’re still looking.

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