- March 20, 2025
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- March 20, 2025
- , 18:15
On March 20, 2025, the Aspen Institute Germany and the American Council on Germany hosted the 14th discussion in the virtual event series State-to-State: German-American State Legislator Dialogue with German and U.S. state legislators. While global challenges are traditionally addressed by national governments, increasingly subnational actors such as states, communities, and cities have stepped up to take action when nation-states have been unable to make progress due to political polarization and partisan gridlock. This trend has also characterized transatlantic relations and the German-American partnership.
Advances in technology and artificial intelligence (AI) are fundamentally reshaping jobs, industries, and economies. In October 2023, former President Biden signed the Executive Order on Safe AI to improve the safety and security of AI in the United States. Two months later, the European Union passed the most comprehensive AI regulation act to date, the Artificial Intelligence Act. As countries struggle to balance development, innovation, and regulation, artificial intelligence (AI) policies and frameworks are rapidly developing at the national, international and subnational levels. Cities and states have used AI for many years, creating frameworks prior to their national counterparts. Many policymakers and city officials recognize the benefits of AI in improving local governments and communities as well as the lives of their constituents. Although innovation is a top priority on both sides of the Atlantic, the United States has focused on encouraging research and potential government use cases, while European policies have focused more on systemic risks and regulation.
AI holds promise for business and consumer applications and the future of work, but it also presents risks for security, economic disruption, and mis/disinformation. How should subnational actors respond? What opportunities or challenges does AI present at the local level? How do governance frameworks overlap? We discussed these issues with Senator Lashrecse Aird (D – Virginia), Nina Eisenhardt (Alliance 90/The Greens – Hesse) and Franziska Müller-Rech (FDP – North Rhine-Westphalia).
This event was part of the State-to-State: German-American State Legislator Dialogue which the Aspen Institute Germany and the American Council on Germany have launched to provide a platform for subnational exchange amongst German and American state legislators and a broader audience on common transatlantic challenges. The project builds on Aspen Germany’s Laboratories of Democracy Initiative, a transatlantic exchange program for German and American state legislators.
