'We have to reject that with every fiber of our being': DeSantis emerges as a chief AI skeptic [View all]
Source: Politico
12/27/2025 02:00 PM EST
TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Gov. Ron DeSantis has fought Big Tech before. But his latest battle against artificial intelligence puts him at odds with a rapidly growing industry — and the leader of his party.
As President Donald Trump and top Republicans in Washington push hard to give companies wide latitude, DeSantis has emerged as a leading AI skeptic. He wants to spend his last year as Florida governor beating back the advancement of artificial intelligence, even as it creeps into more facets of everyday life.
“Let’s not try to act like some type of fake videos or fake songs are going to deliver us to some kind of utopia,” the governor said Dec. 18 during an event in Sebring. Unlike many of DeSantis’ high-profile fights, his opposition to AI has little to do with cultural grievances or “woke” ideology — and far more to do with economic disruption, labor displacement and the scale of the technology itself.
He notably has taken aim at data centers sprouting up across the country by attempting to slow their growth in Florida, siding with local communities opposing the massive developments. And DeSantis frequently raises fears of how AI could ultimately upend the economy by displacing countless workers. The Republican rails against what he calls the “mindless slop” AI creates and warns deepfakes and manipulation could pose “a potential existential crisis for self-government.”
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/12/27/we-have-to-reject-that-with-every-fiber-of-our-being-desantis-emerges-as-a-chief-ai-skeptic-00704333
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