Congressman Keith Ammon will discuss AI regulation at a roundtable hosted by Americans For Prosperity-NH in Nashua.
As artificial intelligence rapidly moves from writing emails to powering self-driving cars, Americans for Prosperity New Hampshire brought together technology advocates, lawmakers, and entrepreneurs last week to ask big questions. “To what extent should governments regulate this rapidly evolving technology?”
The event was billed as a discussion on the proposed “Right to Computing,” and featured a panel that included state Rep. Keith Ammon (R-New Boston) and Juliana Hershap of the Utah-based Abundance Institute. AFP-NH Deputy Director Sarah Scott moderated the discussion.
The conversation centers on a growing national movement to protect open access to AI tools, prevent governments from controlling emerging technologies, and allow individuals and small businesses to innovate without restriction.
Ammon is the sponsor of a bill that would prevent New Hampshire from imposing licensing and registration requirements on AI developers and users and make New Hampshire a hub for AI innovation. The bill mirrors legislation passed in Montana last spring.
Representative Keith Ammon (R-New Boston) and Juliana Hershap, chief of staff for policy and strategy at the Abundance Institute, participated in a roundtable moderated by Sarah Scott, AFP-NH deputy state director.
Ammon goes back to pre-Revolutionary America to explain why he believes this issue is fundamental to individual freedom.
“Printing presses were once registered with the king,” Ammon told attendees. “If something inflammatory, treasonous, or even anti-religious comes out of a news organization, it can be shut down. The Founding Fathers enshrined machine protection, or ‘freedom of the press,’ into the First Amendment.”
A comparable threat today, Ammon said, is the federal government requiring registration or control of AI models. The provision was included in a 2023 executive order by President Joe Biden and later rescinded by President Donald Trump.
“It’s the king saying, ‘This is a dangerous machine, you need to register it,'” Ammon said. “If you can create barriers to entry for your competitors, you’re golden. You get a monopoly.”
Ammon’s proposal has stalled for now, but he says he plans to re-invoice.
“This is a historic moment,” he said. “People were too late to catch up on the conversation.”
Harshap framed this idea as a basic safeguard for individual rights.
“The Counting Rights Act commemorates a core right,” she said. “The burden of proof is on governments, who are providing active guardrails to ensure people’s right to build, create and innovate in the AI space.”
Scott emphasized that the bill does not create new rights. Clarify what already exists.
“The goal is to get ahead of people who say, ‘This tool is too powerful and I shouldn’t have access to it,'” Scott said. “It also brings clarity to a lot of businesses.”
The discussion also touched on another important piece of the AI puzzle: power.
AI data centers consume large amounts of electricity, which is a challenge in some of the country’s highest energy cost regions. That’s what drew Bill Spellane, CEO of Portsmouth-based nuclear microreactor developer StarCube, to the AFP-NH event.
Spelaine said microreactors, which have strong support from Gov. Kelly Ayotte, could play a key role in increasing the region’s competitiveness as AI grows.
“It’s not a question of if, but when AI will become as ubiquitous as the internet,” he told NHJournal. Although he acknowledged concerns about job destruction, he argued that technological change has always reshaped the labor market.
“A hundred years ago, nine out of 10 jobs were hands-on,” Spelaine points out. “Automation has changed the game, and AI will do the same.”
The New Hampshire debate reflects a national rise in AI policymaking at the state level.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, at least 45 states have introduced AI-related legislation in 2024, and 31 states have enacted laws or resolutions. This year, that momentum is only going to get stronger. By mid-2025, approximately 47 states have considered AI measures, and more than 30 have passed one or more laws.
In September, California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed the Frontier Artificial Intelligence Transparency Act. The sweeping legislation requires the largest AI developers to publish safety protocols and assess the potential “catastrophic risks” posed by their models. The measure is aimed squarely at the companies that build the largest and most powerful AI systems, the companies that have driven much of the global competition in generative AI.
Ammon and his allies want New Hampshire to lead the way and stay open.
“Technology moves quickly,” he says. “Governments are moving slowly. We need to make sure innovation happens here and not elsewhere.”
