Montana has made history as the first state in the U.S. to legally protect its citizens’ right to access and use computational tools and artificial intelligence technologies. Governor Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bill 212, officially known as the Montana Right to Compute Act (MRTCA), into law. The groundbreaking legislation affirms Montanans’ fundamental right to own […]
EDIT: So after reading the bill, I can see the following problem:
It limits any level of government from restricting the private use of AI tech unless it meets a relatively high bar of legality and specificity. Remember that private use refers to both personal and business use. This means that e.g. a township could NOT decide to ban datacenters due to environmental concerns, water use, etc. They would need to prove a specific datacenter was ‘creating common law nuisances’ AND that they had exhausted other legal options before they could create any legal restrictions on that specific datacenter (let alone a blanket restriction). The law technically allows for other ‘compelling government interests’, but fails to list them… meaning it could be challenged in court and would be completely open to a judge’s decision. Basically this creates a legal environment where datacenters have a right to operate and any attempt to regulate them would be fraught with the risk of expensive court cases.
Pro-business legislation dressed up as personal rights. Never change, Montana.