February 25, 2026 02:14 PM UTC

‘They’re Afraid the AI Might Misgender Someone,’ Says Congressman of AI Regulations

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• by: Sean Beedle

(The jerk store called and they’re all outta Gabe — Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Originally posted at the Colorado Times Recorder

With the growth of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry, municipalities and states are looking to mitigate the impact of data centers and the influence of technology and its impact on education and children. Denver recently announced plans to seek a moratorium on new data center construction, and the Colorado legislature will consider two measures to address data centers and one measure to address the danger posed to youth by AI.

House Bill 1030 will offer sales and use tax exemptions for data center builders, while Senate Bill 102 attempts to provide accountability for the industry’s water and electricity consumption. In addition to these measures being considered, in 2024 Colorado passed “Consumer Protections for Artificial Intelligence,” which protects consumers from the risks of algorithmic discrimination. U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans (R-CO) says any efforts to rein in the AI industry are misguided.

“What Democrats in this particular area are scared of is AI, and they’re afraid that AI is going to discriminate against all of the different artificial divisions that Democrats love to force into our society,” said Evans during an appearance Tuesday on Ryan Schuling Live. “They’re afraid the AI might misgender someone or do some other sort of action like that. And so they’ve passed this incredibly onerous regulatory framework here in Colorado, that’s just incredibly damaging to be able to grow and develop and innovate something like AI, which like it or not, AI is here. The only question is, are we going to maintain our position of global leadership in the AI space as the United States, and as areas like Colorado, that should be leaders in AI, or are we gonna strangle ourselves with red tape, poorly thought out laws like this one. That’s going to drive jobs, drive creation and development out of Colorado, out of the United States, and send it into the arms of communist China. If you’re nervous about AI, you need to be terrified about communist China becoming the global leader in AI because it was driven out of places like Colorado as a result of Colorado’s AI law.”

Tuesday, a bipartisan group of Colorado Representatives introduced House Bill 1263, Protecting AI Chatbot Users from Harm, to address the danger of unregulated adoption of conversational AI for youth in Colorado.

“The evidence is there: conversational AI has been shown to encourage suicidal ideation and expose young users to sexually explicit content,” said Sen. John Carson (R-Highlands Ranch) in a news release. “Protecting Colorado youth transcends partisanship; my colleagues and I are coming together to pass common sense regulations so that AI users can trust that the technology is continuing to develop with their safety in mind.”

Evans claimed regulations on AI will lead to a loss of jobs in Colorado, citing Palantir’s recent decision to relocate from Denver to Miami. “We are driving private sector jobs, we’re driving innovators, we are driving job creators out of the state of Colorado and we’re replacing them with bureaucrats and more regulatory burden, more government that just creates even further barriers to entry and makes it more difficult,” he said. “Whether it’s Palantir, whether it is AI, whether it’s so many other companies, to either stay in business in Colorado or choose Colorado to relocate to when we’re literally driving out private sector jobs and replacing them with government bureaucrats that regulate innovators and job creators into the ground and ultimately out of the state.”

Rep. Javier Mabrey (D-Denver) said legislation was needed to protect Coloradoans from AI. “It isn’t a secret that billion-dollar tech companies stand to profit from the gamification of our everyday interactions with AI technology,” he said in a news release. “It’s past time we modernize our laws to make sure our kids and neighbors are protected from exploitation when using conversational AI technology.”