Originally published in The Deseret.
In September, Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz introduced the SANDBOX Act, which would empower the Office of Science and Technology Policy to temporarily waive “outdated” regulations to allow AI developers to launch new technologies.
“Which I do think is a reflection of sort of the sandbox perspective that Utah’s brought to the AI conversation,” said Chris Koopman, CEO of the Utah-based Abundance Institute. “This is definitely a Utah model.”
Negotiations over Trump’s framework are still in early stages, Koopman said. The bill drafting process hasn’t stalled because it hasn’t started yet. it will likely move forward this summer, according to Koopman, who hopes Utah’s approach will appear in the final product.
While Utah was an early adopter of sandbox policies, AI proposals failed to progress through the Legislature this year.
The first proposal, HB286, withered under White House threats, and the second, HB438, which would have imposed penalties for AI chatbots that engage in harmful conversations with minors, met overwhelming opposition from industry representatives.
But this is just another example of the Utah Way, Koopman said, with lawmakers finding a balance between public policy and economic dynamism in the state.