Watered Down Legislation Regarding How AI Interacts With People Seeking Emotional Support Passes In Tennessee House & Senate

Image Credit: TN General Assembly

The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –

On the last day of the Tennessee General Assembly, a watered down bill regarding how artificial intelligence (AI) interacts with people seeking emotional support passed in both the House and Senate after some back and forth and insinuations that certain lawmakers had spread “false” information.

Starting in the Senate, Senate Bill 1493, sponsored by Senator Becky Massey (R-Knoxville-District 6), passed in a unanimous vote.

The legislation which aimed to protect children especially was stripped of the enforcement penalty and the bill that the Senate passed was amended instead to require that a study be conducted by the Tennessee Artificial Intelligence Advisory Council to study and understand the impact of AI on state government and the people of Tennessee.

SB1493 as originally written would have created a Class A felony offense for those who knowingly train AI to “encourage the act of suicide or criminal homicide, or act in specific manners, including developing an emotional relationship with an individual or simulating a human being, including in appearance, voice, or other mannerisms.” 

While not the original intent of the sponsor, in passing the bill as amended, it was hoped that the study would be completed before the legislature returns for business in early 2027 so that similar legislation can be passed next year.

Upon the bill’s arrival in the House, Representative Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville-District 14) laid the blame squarely in Senator Ken Yager’s lap for the bill not passing in the Senate this year as originally devised, claiming that Yager spread misinformation and chose to send the bill back to committee. Zachary also claimed that Yager said that he had spoken to the White House who had asked him not to move forward on the bill.

Zachary brought an amendment for House Bill 1455 that was different to the Senate’s in that it requires the study to be conducted by the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) instead of the AI Council.

Zachary said he had talked to the White House himself three times, and had it in writing that no one in the White House had talked to anyone in the Tennessee Senate about an AI bill and that the White House supports the TACIR study in order to bring better legislation next year. Zachary said that his amendment takes the points from the original legislation, putting them in the study.

“The lobbyists for Amazon, Google, and Meta, worked the seventh floor against this bill and the citizens of Tennessee need to know that,” stated Zachary, and said that he hoped “our friends across the hallway” would concur with the amendment in an effort “to get it right.”

Sponsor of HB1455, Representative Mary Littleton (R-Dickson-District 78), was teary-eyed in her final remarks on her very last bill as a state lawmaker, and urged her colleagues to take action next year and pass legislation to provide safeguards for Tennesseans when it comes to AI. Littleton is not running for reelection.

HB1455 as amended passed unanimously in an 88 to 0 vote.

When the legislation returned to the Senate, Yager refuted Zachary’s claims saying that he never said that the White House opposed the bill, to the contrary, that they supported it, and that he had returned the bill back to Commerce “reluctantly” because the lobbyists for Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft were telling members that the White House opposed it. He said he was not going to let his colleagues vote after being actively misled.

While Massey and others stated that it made more sense for the study to be conducted by the AI Council, created by lawmakers two years ago to focus on such issues, and that TACIR might not be as timely hence delaying potential legislation from being passed next year, the concurrence motion passed 26 to 4 along party lines.

A report from the study will be due on January 31st, 2027.

About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.