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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When most people think of AI, they think of chatbots like
Chat GPT and Gemini.

On Monday night, tech leaders are trying to get the word out about a
new form of AI called agentic. Some say we’ll end up engaging
with this technology the most.

Duke professor Jon Reifschneider built his own model that he
believes could be a gamechanger for researchers. He spoke with WRAL News about the rise of the technology and what may lie ahead for its use in daily life.

Reifschneider and cofounder Pramod Singh have a new AI product called Inquisite. They believe could be a game-changer for researchers. 

“Our ultimate goal with this is to speed up discovery and
translation so we can do things like bring new drugs to market,” Reifschneider said. “In, let’s say, 3-to-5 years rather than 10-to-20 years … We need it.”

Before showing how it works, let’s have a quick vocabulary
lesson. 

Popular chatbots like Chat GPT or Gemini are mainly
considered generative AI. That means you give it a question or prompt – and it gives you a
response based on the massive amounts of data it has access to.

Inquisite is something different. It’s referred to as agentic
AI. 

Agentic AI doesn’t just give you answers, it performs tasks
for you.

“Agents are particularly exciting because they can actually
sort of do work, very much like a human might,” Reifschneider said.

Inquisite’s agents play the role of research
assistant – scouring through its massive database of research and medical
journals to find, read and summarize the relevant papers scientists need to do
their jobs. 

“We can see here it found 119 papers that were potentially
relevant using those queries,” Reifschneider said. “It then went through a process where it reviewed
all the metadata, the titles, authors, and abstracts and it filtered those 119
papers down to just 17 papers that it determined were highly relevant to answer
my question.”

“So if you’re saving time, does that mean you get discoveries faster?” Reifschneider said. “We believe so. That’s our ultimate goal with Inquisite.”

That could mean a faster path to a cure for certain
cancers – or a new gene therapy for Parkinson’s. 

Inquisite is ahead of the curve – with the top minds in tech
this summer proclaiming agentic AI is the future.

Tech leaders have acknowledged agentic AI’s capabilities and the likelihood of future use.

“Agentic AI is real,” said Nvidia CEO and President Jensen Huang. “Agentic AI is a giant step function from
one shot AI.” 

“I think every business in the future will have an AI agent
that their customers can talk to in the future,” said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. 

But will these agents replace jobs? 

“They’re really designed to augment human research teams, not
try to replace the scientists and researchers,” Reifschneider said. “That’s kind of key. You’re not
building this to replace researchers. You’re building this to help them. That’s
right, research is a highly creative task.”

When asked about AI agents potentially
taking jobs, he said he thinks fears about AI taking jobs are overblown.

In fact, he’s teaching his graduate-level students that they have a
quality AI can’t replace.

“I don’t think AI will have the creativity we need to do really novel research, I think we very much still need human scientists in the loop,” Reifschneider said.