AI battle brewing

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Stop me if you've heard this one before: an audit, and how it would be conducted, is a flashpoint on Beacon Hill.

This time it's not another chapter in the standoff between Auditor Diana DiZoglio and the Legislature, but part of the debate over how Massachusetts should regulate artificial intelligence.

When the House passed its $561 million economic development bill last week, it spiked language that would create new rules around transparency, oversight and risk management for what's known as frontier AI labs — think Google, Meta and Anthropic.

The frontier AI language was added by the Economic Development Committee and essentially shot down twice by the House — once when the House Ways and Means Committee removed it from its redraft of the bill, and once when representatives rejected an amendment that sought to add a similar measure back in.

Now, as senators prepare to unveil their version of the bill, it could be back on the table. Senate leaders say the bill will feature new AI regulations.

Enter the American Innovators Network, a relatively new national advocacy coalition that represents "Little Tech" and is active on AI legislation across the country. The group is trying to persuade Massachusetts lawmakers that what they're considering would hurt the startup ecosystem in places like Kendall Square.

One issue, AIN executive director Jeremy Kudon said, is that the AI proposal here would require "large frontier developers" (their largeness determined based on annual revenue and spending) to undergo annual audits to make sure they're complying with the new guardrails.

For the biggest of the big tech companies, with “armies of lawyers,” that’s no problem, Kudon said.

"There's no level of compliance they can't absorb, and they have no problem having auditors running around their headquarters all day long, peeking under the hood," he said.

But Kudon says that especially with no clear, official standards yet in place for this type of audit, smaller companies would struggle to afford the staff time to work with an independent auditor. He sees the audit requirement as a way to tell startups "we are going to favor Big Tech, and we're going to essentially impose much greater costs."

And as for Big Tech itself? Anthropic, the Boston Globe reported last month, endorsed the frontier AI language before the House scrapped it, saying it would "give Massachusetts the strongest AI safeguards in the country — and that’s something we need more urgently with each passing day."

The Senate is eyeing an economic development bill vote next week. What do you hope makes it in (or gets tossed from) their version? Fill me in at [email protected].

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HAPPENING TODAY

8:00 | MASSterList and the State House News Service host the fourth annual Meet the Media event, in partnership with Axios Boston and CommonWealth Beacon | MCLE Conference Center, 10 Winter Pl., Boston | Register

9:00 | Massachusetts Port Authority Board meets. Agenda includes discussion of a Terminal C redevelopment opportunity | Email [email protected] for access | More Info

10:00 | Gov. Healey hosts a ceremonial signing event with legislative leaders, law enforcement, and disability and autism community stakeholders to mark her June 25 signing of a law that aims to improve communication between law enforcement and individuals with autism | Charles River Center, 59 East Militia Heights Dr., Needham

10:00 | Massachusetts Gaming Commission holds an open meeting | More Info and Livestream

11:00 | Senate Democrats announce economic development legislation that Senate President Spilka's office says will include "new AI regulations, housing affordability measures, and rules for e-bikes and scooters" | Senate Reading Room, State House

11:00 | House meets in an informal session | House Chamber

11:00 | Senate holds formal session to tackle bills aimed at preventing violence against healthcare workers and creating a licensure process for home care workers. | Senate Chamber | Session Calendar

6:00 | Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition holds a vigil for Louisa Gag, a transportation planner for the City of Boston who was killed while riding her bike in Roxbury Crossing on July 9 | Boston City Hall Plaza, 1 City Hall Square, Boston

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FROM BEACON HILL

BOOSTER BUDGET: A new spending bill is in the mix at the State House, days after Gov. Healey signed a $63 billion state budget. Her new proposal wound send $100 million in millionaire's tax money to public schools, as districts embark on a fiscal year marked by layoffs, property tax overrides and school closures. | Boston Globe

MONEYBALL: A measure tucked into the economic development bill passed by the Massachusetts House would exclude minor league baseball players from the state’s wage laws. | State House News Service via NBC10 Boston

BLUE STAR PLATES: A new state law, signed on the anniversary of Weymouth Police Sgt. Michael Chesna's death, creates a specialty "Blue Star Family" license plate to honor fallen police officers. | Telegram & Gazette

ICE FIGHT: Gov. Healey says her two Republican opponents "can't and shouldn't" be governor since they haven’t stood against ICE and President Trump. The candidates, Mike Minogue and Brian Shortsleeve, fired back with their own knocks on Healey as wrong for the state. | Boston Herald

NEWS NEXT DOOR

DEBATING DEBATES: Organizers of a congressional forum in Springfield are calling on U.S. Rep. Richard Neal to join his two challengers at the Aug. 11 event. Neal charges that the event is "deceitful" and linked to an opposing campaign. One person involved in the forum, who has donated to South Hadley Democrat Jeromie Whalen, offered to step down so Neal will participate | NEPM

FUNDING GOOOOOAL: Despite a goal of "geographic equity," Boston was the big winner when it came to state-issued grants for World Cup celebrations. | BINJ

MORE SCOTLAND, MORE PARTY: As local leaders welcomed a viral World Cup traffic cone from Glasgow, Meet Boston is also running a series of billboards in Scotland in a bid to lure back the visitors who charmed the city and help international tourism bounce back more broadly. | Boston Business Journal

BOX OFFICE: The Somerville Theatre and Arlington's Capitol Theatre are for sale, for $12 million each. Both venues are expected to remain theaters because of ongoing leases. | WHDH

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