Justice Department Elon Musk

By Seth Klamann
The Denver Post

(The Denver Post) The Department of Justice has joined a lawsuit by billionaire Elon Musk’s xAI that challenges Colorado’s dormant artificial intelligence regulations, just as lawmakers prepare to rewrite those rules.

The federal government announced Friday that it was intervening in the suit that xAI filed earlier this month. The company alleges that Colorado’s rules, which seek to prevent discrimination by AI systems that have a consequential say in decisions like bank lending or education enrollment, violate the First Amendment because it requires xAI to “embed the State’s preferred views into the very fabric of AI systems.”

The suit also alleges that the rules are too vague and that they seek to regulate products outside of Colorado’s state boundaries. The company owns Grok, an AI chatbot, as well as the social platform X, formerly Twitter.

Justice Department Elon Musk

The regulations were passed nearly two years ago, but they have not yet gone into place. Their effective date has been delayed until June, but they may never kick in. The rules have been roundly criticized by both the tech industry and the groups seeking to regulate AI, and state lawmakers are preparing to take their third stab at rewriting them.

Legislation to pursue those reforms is expected in the coming days.

Still, the Justice Department has joined xAI’s suit, alleging that the pending rules are unconstitutional and that they “attempt to force discriminatory ideology on the AI industry,” despite their intent to stop algorithms from discriminating against students and job applicants.

The lawsuit asks a federal judge to strike down the regulations.

Colorado officials have not yet filed a response to xAI’s initial allegations. Lawrence Pacheco, a spokesman for Attorney General Phil Weiser, declined to comment on the pending litigation Friday morning. He said the office would “do our talking in our court papers.”