1. United States
2. Minn.
3. Letter

AI must be regulated to ensure this new technology is implemented and used safely by corporations and consumers. In winter 2025, Microsoft published a report titled "The Impact of Generative AI on Critical Thinking: Self-Reported Reductions in Cognitive Effort and Confidence Effects From a Survey of Knowledge Workers". This report found that knowledge workers who heavily relied on AI in their work used their cognitive skills less. The atrophy of cognitive skills at a time when AI is being used to create deep fakes, misinformation, and fraud is deeply concerning. The Microsoft study points to possible ways to develop AI to counter the decrease in cognition; however, companies will unfortunately need incentives or laws that call for these specific developments. Please do not pass the current proposal in Trump's wasteful bill that will ban states from regulating artificial intelligence. A blanket ban like this will ensure corporations have no incentives to build safeguards or ethical use of their products into the development of AI. Our society has been deeply harmed by the effects of social media. We must take a stand now, while AI is still in a relatively new phase, and regulate this industry before irreparable harms are done to people in the US.