by Livia Caputo, Florida Phoenix
October 7, 2025
Although Governor Ron DeSantis has hinted for months legislation Facing the rapid growth of artificial intelligence, insurance lobbyists argued Tuesday before a Florida House panel that state law already regulates AI in insurance.
The four witnesses along with a subject matter expert addressed the Insurance and Banking Subcommittee during a panel discussion on the use of AI in the insurance industry. The meeting follows DeSantis’ months-long effort to address the skyrocketing energy costs of artificial intelligence and growing concern about AI taking human jobs.
Lobbyists insisted that generative AI helps process claims and detect fraud, adding that AI, designed to assist — not replace — the workforce, is just as subject to the Florida Insurance Code as humans.
“Any decision made or any action taken by an insurance company, whether it’s by a person, a human, an AI platform, all of that is governed by Florida law,” said Paul Martin, vice president for state affairs at the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies. He added that the insurance company will always be responsible for mistakes made by anyone – human or robot – on its behalf.
“The complaints laws apply regardless of the source of the bad decision, the bad decision. If it’s an AI platform that makes a mistake, if it’s a human that makes a mistake, that same law applies,” he added.
DeSantis and AI
AI is one of the few policy areas where DeSantis appears to be breaking with President Donald Trump. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a major budget bill in May banning states from adopting AI regulations for a decade, although the Senate quickly blocked it.
In one of his first social media posts Criticizing AI, DeSantis questioned why Congress would want to “crack down” on states’ ability to control the technology.
“It basically means we’re going to be at the mercy of the tech overlords of Silicon Valley,” he said at a later news conference.
He has since made dire predictions that AI will eat away at white-collar jobs, while calling them a “regurgitation of bullshit…”. More recently, he has denounced technology’s massive thirst for energy, arguing that taxpayers and utility ratepayers are footing the bill.
Despite these misgivings, DeSantis vetoed a bill in the 2025 session that would have studied AI in the job market, noting that the technology is spreading so quickly that the study would be obsolete once completed.
Jarrett Catlin, of the pro-AI lobby TechNet, stressed that piecemeal regulation by the Office of Insurance Regulatory would be preferable to sweeping legislative changes by state government. He asked lawmakers to avoid passing AI programs using a one-size-fits-all approach and instead use targeted legislation when specific issues arise.
“Targeting is always better,” Catlin said. “It’s a challenge to figure out how to… adapt these different rules and regulations to all these different sectors.” »
Colorado passed the nation’s first comprehensive set of AI regulations in 2024, but a recent special session called to deal with budget deficits became a “battleground” for the law, with shouting from the halls of the Capitol, according to consulting firm Clark Hill. reported.
Tech lobbyists, opposed to the law, helped draft new legislation delaying its enactment until June 2026.
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