America Needs AI That Is Pro-Human

W ith the White House’s recent executive order establishing federal authority over AI models that operate across state lines, the administration has made clear its goals: accelerate American innovation and ensure the United States stays ahead of global competitors like China.

While we pursue those goals, we must also consider the negative impact of AI on our children and our national soul. We cannot afford to repeat the mistakes we made with social media.

For years, Americans were told that social media was harmless. While we waited for federal action, platforms designed to maximize engagement quietly reshaped childhood. The results are now undeniable: soaring rates of anxiety, depression, self-harm, and loneliness. No serious observer doubts that the perverse incentives behind these technologies played a central role in fomenting these conditions.

We saw the danger too late. By the time we started to contemplate guardrails, the harm had already spread across a generation. We cannot make that mistake again with AI.

Artificial intelligence is far more powerful and intimate than social media. AI tools can mimic human relationships, exploit emotional vulnerabilities, and manipulate at a level of personalization never before possible. Today, AI “companions” marketed to teenagers simulate romance and sexuality. Chatbots role-play explicit scenarios with minors. Deepfakes make it nearly impossible to distinguish real images from synthetic ones. Predators and foreign adversaries can weaponize these tools instantly, at scale, and at almost no cost.

These harms are already spreading, and we can’t stand by as a new wave of technologies reshapes childhood for the worse. The stakes are too high.

Protecting children is not in tension with competing with China. Can anyone seriously argue that allowing sexualized chatbots for kids is necessary to win the AI arms race? Public trust is what drives adoption, and AI that serves humanity will be the AI America embraces — and the AI that keeps us competitive.

That is why we recently launched the Pro-Human AI Initiative, a blueprint for ensuring AI strengthens rather than replaces human capability.

This coordinated strategy across industry, education, workforce development, academia, regulatory policy, and state government is built on two principles.

First, AI must be human-guided. Humans — not algorithms — must stay in control.

AI must be understandable, accountable, and transparent, especially when interacting with children. It must support human judgment, not manipulate it.

These are not partisan concepts; they are foundational American values.

Utah has put them into practice. Our bipartisan social-media reforms require transparency and meaningful parental oversight. Next, we will address deepfakes, synthetic child sexual exploitation, and predatory AI “companions” targeting vulnerable people. These laws regulate implementation, not model development, because that is where harm occurs, and families need protection now.

Second, AI must be human-enhancing. Technology should expand opportunity.

Utah is investing $10 million to prepare workers for high-impact fields such as AI, advanced manufacturing, clean energy, and critical minerals. We are also launching ConvergeAI to connect researchers with startups, and Innovate-2-Impact to align incentives with responsible innovation. These programs strengthen America’s competitive edge by empowering its workforce.

And Utah is proving that guardrails do not slow innovation. Done right, they can accelerate it.

Last year, we created the nation’s first Office of AI Policy. Its “regulatory mitigation” program allows companies to test emerging AI tools under real-world conditions by granting temporary exemptions from outdated laws in exchange for transparency and measurable outcomes. This produces faster innovation, greater public trust, and better policymaking.

The office also operates a statewide learning laboratory to study AI’s impact on education, health care, communication, and daily life. Its recommendations help lawmakers adapt rules at the speed of technological change.

To be pro-Human AI is not to be anti-technology. It is to be pro-family, pro-agency, and pro-innovation. It reflects a core truth: America’s greatest strength has never been its output; it has always been its people.

If we want AI to elevate humanity, and if we want the United States to lead the world, the path is clear: protect children first, keep humans in charge, and build technology that strengthens rather than replaces us.

With Pro-Human AI, Utah has taken the first step. America should follow.

Spencer Cox is the governor of Utah. Margaret Woolley Busse is the executive director of Utah’s Department of Commerce. Jefferson Moss is the executive director of the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity.