AI rules splintering fast
U.S. federal policymaking on AI remains deadlocked while states are rushing in with their own laws — leaving companies to navigate a patchwork of requirements (npr.org). This week a federal court sided with Amazon to block an AI shopping bot, underscoring how corporate terms of service are becoming de facto regulation in the absence of unified law (ucstrategies.com). South Korea meanwhile is actively calibrating its AI Basic Act in a “real‑world” feedback phase, showing governments are experimenting with iterative, industry‑facing approaches (koreatechdesk.com).
The White House published a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence on March 20, 2026, calling on Congress to adopt a single federal statute and to preempt conflicting state AI rules. (whitehouse.gov) State legislatures have exploded into the gap: tracking groups report 1,561 AI-related bills introduced across 45 states so far in March 2026. (multistate.ai) Last year’s wave already produced roughly 100 enacted measures across 38 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, underscoring why federal actors are pushing for uniformity. (ncsl.org) Colorado’s comprehensive AI statute (SB 24-205) survived legislative fights but its enforcement date was pushed to June 30, 2026 after amendments, leaving companies a narrow window for rulemaking and compliance planning. (leg.colorado.gov) In litigation shaping commercial access, U.S. District Judge Maxine M. Chesney issued a preliminary injunction on March 10, 2026 that barred Perplexity AI’s Comet agent from accessing Amazon’s password‑protected systems and ordered deletion of Amazon data the startup had collected. (bloomberg.com) An appellate panel of the Ninth Circuit temporarily stayed that injunction after Perplexity appealed, giving the company a short-lived reprieve while the legal fight proceeds. (siliconangle.com) The lower court’s findings leaned on the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and Amazon’s terms of service, turning contract and cybersecurity claims into a precedent that could control how agentic shopping tools operate. (hoodline.com) South Korea’s AI Basic Act took effect on January 22, 2026, and Seoul has moved into a “real‑world calibration” phase that includes a public‑private task force of more than 40 industry, academic and civil‑society experts to refine enforcement details. (cooley.com)
