Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to express concerns with the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence in contrast to President Donald Trump, whose approach to the burgeoning technology is mostly to use existing rules to push for the nation’s dominance in the field.
Speaking in West Palm Beach on Tuesday, DeSantis criticized recent comments by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the artificial intelligence research company behind ChatGPT, who said in an interview with Politico the world should accept “some bad things happening” in exchange for the benefits provided by AI.
“I didn’t think he got elected to make that decision for us, thank you very much,” DeSantis said. “And I think we should be as citizens looking to make sure that we’re protecting people from potential harm as the technology develops.”
DeSantis said the technology mostly hasn’t been shown to make people healthier as proponents advertise. Rather, it’s mostly being used by hospitals and insurance companies to determine costs.
“Most businesses just aren’t going to pay what they’re asking for right now, unless they can really monetize those tools,” DeSantis said. “Well, who can monetize? A hospital can monetize. Insurance can help monetize. So, they’re paying for it, and it’s all just with the patient getting lost in the shuffle.”
DeSantis further claimed that the people behind AI technologies are “transhumanists.”
“They don’t necessarily believe human beings are central to the experience that we have on Earth or beyond, and they are perfectly comfortable with these things being considered sentient, being considered individuals and even displacing our central role as human beings,” DeSantis said.
Florida filed a federal lawsuit in June against Altman and OpenAI claiming its ChatGPT product aided acts of violence, including the April 17, 2025 shooting at Florida State University which left two dead and five wounded.
DeSantis has long expressed worries about the effects of maturing AI technology on humanity.
DeSantis was unable to convince House leadership in the spring to pass legislation aimed at protecting consumers from AI harms. Former House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, repeatedly professed that such individual protections should be addressed by the federal government. Perez has since been appointed by Trump as ambassador to Brazil.
Trump over the weekend announced the creation of what he called a “Super Intelligence Force,” an artificial intelligence task force to promote the technology and protect American interests.
The announcement didn’t include specific actions for the task force other than to “coordinate the Federal Government’s engagement with Consumers, Public Interest Groups, Religious Organizations, Critical Infrastructure Providers, and Super Intelligence Companies.”
