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The development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in recent years has been one of the most consequential technological advances since the emergence of the internet.
AI has the potential to change and improve every facet of our lives, from automating simple routine tasks like scheduling a doctor’s appointment to more complex efforts like coding a new computer program.
Yet, this transformative technology may never reach its potential if policymakers rush to regulate what they do not yet fully understand.
Like all breakthrough technologies, AI needs room to grow, including opportunities for innovators to experiment, iterate, and scale new applications. Just as the United States led the global digital revolution, empowering American tech companies to achieve superior market positions with limited regulatory interference, we now face a similar crossroads with AI.
Unfortunately, some state-level efforts risk undermining this progress.
States like Colorado and California have recently introduced or passed regulatory frameworks that could deter investment, suppress AI deployment in their respective states, and slow national momentum. With international competitors racing ahead with their own AI development programs, every unnecessary regulatory barrier we erect gives them a strategic advantage.
Federal leadership plays an important role. President Donald Trump’s recently announced AI Action Plan sets the framework for how the government can support technological advancement by prioritizing innovation, investing in AI infrastructure, and promoting U.S. leadership in global standards-setting.
While national initiatives lay the groundwork for progress, state-level action is vital in translating these goals into tangible outcomes.
Here in Florida, we are committed to fostering a regulatory environment that encourages responsible innovation. By aligning with forward-looking national efforts and resisting the urge to overregulate, we can ensure AI remains a force for economic opportunity, technological leadership, and public benefit.
With the right policies, we can ensure those benefits are realized without unnecessary barriers or delays.
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John Snyder is the state Representative of Florida House District 86 and served as Chair of the House Information Technology Budget and Policy Subcommittee in the 2025 Legislative Session.
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Suzanne BearneTechnology Reporter
Anja-Sara LahadyLike most people, when Anja-Sara Lahady used to check or research anything online, she would always turn to Google.
But since the rise of AI, the lawyer and legal technology consultant says her preferences have changed – she now turns to large language models (LLMs) such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
“For example, I’ll ask it how I should decorate my room, or what outfit I should wear,” says Ms Lahady, who lives in Montreal, Canada.
“Or, I have three things in the fridge, what should I make? I don’t want to spend 30 minutes thinking about these admin tasks. These aren’t my expertise; they make me more fatigued.”
Ms Lahady says her usage of LLMs overtook Google Search in the past year when they became more powerful for what she needed.
“I’ve always been an early adopter… and in the past year have started using ChatGPT for just about everything. It’s become a second assistant.”
While she says she won’t use LLMs for legal tasks – “anything that needs legal reasoning” – she uses it in a professional capacity for any work that she describes as “low risk”, for example, drafting an email.
“I also use it to help write code or find the best accounting software for my business.”
Ms Lahady is not alone. A growing number are heading straight for LLMs, such as ChatGPT, for recommendations and to answer everyday questions.
ChatGPT attracts more than 800 million weekly active users, up from 400 million in February 2025, according to Demandsage, a data and research firm.
Traditional search engines like Google and Microsoft’s Bing still dominate the market for search. But LLMs are growing fast.
According to research firm Datos, in July 5.99% of search on desktop browsers went to LLMs, that’s more than double the figure from a year earlier.
Getty ImagesProfessor Feng Li, associate dean for research and innovation at Bayes Business School in London, says people are using LLMs because they lower the “cognitive load” – the amount of mental effort required to process and act on information – compared to search.
“Instead of juggling 10 links with search, you get a brief synthesis that you can edit and iterate in plain English,” he says. “LLMs are particularly useful for summarising long documents, first-pass drafting, coding snippets, and ‘what-if’ exploration.”
However, he says outputs still require verification before use, as hallucinations and factual errors remain common.
While the use of AI might have exploded, Google denies that it is at the expense of its search engine.
It says overall queries and commercial queries continued to grow year-over-year and its new AI tools significantly contributed to this increase in usage.
Those new tools include AI Mode, which allows users to ask more conversational questions and receive more tailored responses in return.
That followed the rollout of AI Overviews, which produces summaries of queries at the top of the search page.
While Google plays down the impact of LLMs on its search business, an indication of the affect came in May during testimony in an antitrust trial bought by the US Department of Justice against Google.
A top Apple executive said that the number of Google searches on Apple devices, via its browser Safari, fell for the first time in more than 20 years.
Nevertheless, Prof Li doesn’t believe there will be a replacement of search but a hybrid model will exist.
“LLM usage is growing, but so far it remains a minority behaviour compared with traditional search. It is likely to continue to grow but stabilise somewhere, when people primarily use LLMs for some tasks and search for others such as transactions like shopping and making bookings, and verification purposes.”
Getty ImagesAs a result of the rise of LLMs, companies are having to change their marketing strategies.
They need to understand “which sources the model considers authoritative within their category,” says Leila Seith Hassan, chief data officer at digital marketing agency Digitas UK.
“For example, in UK beauty we saw news outlets and review sites like Vogue and Sephora referenced heavily, whereas in the US there was more emphasis on content from brands’ own websites.”
She says that LLMs place more trust in official websites, press releases, established media, and recognised industry rankings than in social media posts.
And that could be important, as Ms Seith Hassan says there are signs that people who have used AI to search for a product, are more likely to buy.
“Referrals coming directly from LLMs often appear to be higher quality, with people are more likely to convert to sales.”
There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that people are turning to LLMs when searching for products.
Hannah Cooke, head of client strategy at media and influencer agency Charlie Oscar, says she started using LLMs in a “more serious and strategic way” about 18 months ago.
She mainly uses ChatGPT but has experimented with Google Gemini to personally and professionally streamline her work and life.
Ms Cooke, who lives in London, says rather than turning to Google, she will ask ChatGPT for personalised skincare recommendations for her skin type. “There’s fewer websites I need to go through,” she says of the benefits.
And it’s the same with travel planning.
“ChatGPT is much easier to find answers and recommendations,” she says.
“For example, I used ChatGPT to research ahead of a recent visit to Japan. I asked it to plan two weeks travelling and find me restaurants with vegetarian dishes. It saved [me] hours of research.”
For the first time, state education leaders have ranked artificial intelligence as the top industry priority, ahead of even cybersecurity, on an annual survey by the State Educational Technology Directors Association.
Released last week and developed in collaboration with Whiteboard Advisors, a consulting firm focused on educational equity and economic mobility, the report includes responses from ed-tech directors, state chief information officers and other state education leaders in 47 states, according to a recent news release. It suggests U.S. schools are experiencing a significant transition amid rapidly emerging technology, cuts to education funding and changing policy landscapes.
“The rise of AI as a top state priority reflects just how quickly the education landscape is evolving,” SETDA Executive Director Julia Fallon said in a public statement. “But what stands out in this year’s report is the through-line of commitment: state leaders are not chasing trends, they are developing policy and building frameworks that protect students, empower educators, and make technology a true driver of equity and impact.”
For the 2025 report, SETDA and Whiteboard Advisors also brought together leaders from 14 states and affiliate organizations to better understand how they are approaching the implementation of AI in their communities.
“This is the work of system change, and states are leading the way,” Fallon said in a public statement.
AI BECOMES TOP PRIORITY
According to the SETDA report, this year marks the first time AI is viewed as the most pressing topic in the ed-tech industry and state ed-tech initiatives.
The swift development of AI reflects states moving quickly to build guidance, policy frameworks and professional learning around AI, and even hire AI specialists in some agencies, the report said.
In North Carolina, for example, the state appointed a consultant to lead its AI initiatives, including AI classroom guidelines, the facilitation of regional AI summits, and AI-specific professional development.
Virginia is also investing funds to support K-12 AI integration, from robotics to Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses.
“AI is embedded in our computer science standards,” Calypso Gilstrap, executive director in the Virginia Department of Education’s Office of Innovation, said in a public statement. “That means it’s a legitimate focus for instructional planning and PD — especially when we’re looking at cross-subject connections, like AI in math.”
MOST PROMINENT UNMENT NEED: DURABLE FUNDING
Since the end of pandemic-era emergency funds, states are facing challenges in continuing ed-tech initiatives, the report found. The loss of funding is also exacerbated by a decline in public school enrollment nationwide.
“The percentage of respondents unsure if they will have funds to sustain these efforts nearly doubled in the past year,” the survey revealed. “Similarly, the number of survey respondents who indicate that their state has identified funds to sustain broadband efforts decreased by 11 percentage points, with a 9 point increase in uncertainty about where states will find money for those efforts.”
The report highlights how statewide grants in Utah over the past decade significantly improved student learning and formed a strong foundation that prepared its schools for when new tech was introduced.
“The state’s strategic investment in teachers is paying off,” the report said. “Because [digital teaching and learning] investments had already brought high-speed Internet, widespread access to devices, and trained a statewide network of instructional technology coaches, districts didn’t have to worry about infrastructure.”
DEVICE USE IS GETTING MORE ATTENTION
Following the U.S. Surgeon General’s 2023 advisory on the youth mental health crisis, the report said, state and school leaders are exploring the necessity and efficacy of device bans in classrooms.
While the report noted that 3 out of 4 respondents indicated “their state had either adopted a strict device ban, issued guidance regarding device restrictions, or has been considering one of these options,” some states, like Delaware, are taking an alternative approach to mitigate the negative impact of prolonged screen time.
Rather than banning devices, Delaware is prioritizing comprehensive media literacy and digital citizenship education based on the Digital Citizenship Education Act, according to the report.
“From Internet safety and online ethics to understanding bias in digital content, the law requires all public and charter schools to … [ensure] students receive consistent standards-aligned digital literacy education across the state” the report said.
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING IS STILL UNDERRESOURCED
States reported that professional development for school staff, especially teachers, remains a crucial need — especially surrounding how to safely and effectively integrate AI into learning, according to SETDA.
“Professional learning rightfully earned its spotlight in this year’s report because it kept coming up in survey responses and interviews with state leaders,” the report said. “Perhaps most importantly, the spotlight provided an opportunity to showcase what’s possible when states invest consistently in teachers.”
For example, SETDA highlighted the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) Learning Network in its effort to curate “high-quality, scalable, and cost-effective development opportunities.” The collaborative infrastructure, according to SETDA’s report, has teacher-created content that evolves along educators’ individual needs.
“Signature offerings like Project Para — a training program for paraeducators in early childhood, special education, and Title I settings — now draw thousands of users each month,” the report stated. “Since its launch, the network has grown to serve over 60,000 users, far exceeding Nebraska’s own educator workforce of 25,000.”
CYBERSECURITY IS STILL CRITICAL
Despite falling behind AI as the No. 1 priority, SETDA’s report indicates that ongoing investment in cybersecurity infrastructure is of critical importance.
“Cybersecurity did not drop on the state technology priorities list but maintained its percentage score — receiving 21 percent in both 2024 and 2025,” the report said. “[T]he ascendancy of one ed-tech priority doesn’t necessarily come at the expense of other priorities. In fact, new emerging technologies like AI may actually increase the need for investments in infrastructure safety and access.”
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