AI, States’ Rights, and the Most Basic Property Right: Owning Yourself

By Senator Tammy Nichols, Idaho Freedom Caucus Member

Artificial intelligence is advancing at a pace few could have imagined even a few years ago. With that rapid growth comes a fundamental question we as lawmakers must confront: Who protects the individual when technology can replicate a human being’s face, voice, and identity?

Earlier this year, a major national debate emerged over AI regulation, and more specifically, who gets to regulate it. The federal government proposed a provision that would have imposed a 10-year moratorium on states passing or enforcing their own AI laws, effectively freezing state action just as the risks of AI are accelerating. States pushed back, and that moratorium was ultimately dropped from the “Big Beautiful Bill.” This was an important reaffirmation that states are not subordinate to Washington, especially when fundamental rights are at stake.

At its core, this is not merely a technology debate. It is a property rights issue at the most basic level. If we believe in property rights, we must also believe in the first property a person ever owns: themselves. Your face, your voice, your image, and your identity are not public commodities to be scraped, replicated, and sold without consent.

Idaho has already been ahead of the curve. In 2022, I carried legislation recognizing personhood considerations in artificial intelligence, long before most states were paying attention. Since then, AI has moved far beyond experimental tools. We are now seeing deepfakes, voice cloning, political impersonations, financial scams, and reputational harm, with victims often left without meaningful legal recourse.

That is why I am currently finishing draft legislation for the upcoming session to protect individuals from the unauthorized use of their image, voice, and likeness. This proposal uses existing, well understood legal frameworks, copyright principles and personality (or publicity) rights, to affirm individual ownership and provide clear civil remedies. It does so without building a new regulatory bureaucracy, staying true to limited-government principles.

Importantly, Idaho would not be acting alone. Denmark recently passed groundbreaking legislation recognizing legal ownership over a person’s likeness, including digital reproductions created by AI. Their approach reinforces a truth that transcends borders: technological advancement should never come at the expense of human dignity.

This is not about stopping innovation. AI will continue to advance, regardless of if we like it or not. But innovation must coexist with accountability and protections. When technology can convincingly make you say or do things you never did, the law must respond.

As states continue to lead, Idaho once again has the opportunity to defend liberty, by protecting the most fundamental property right of all: owning yourself.

In Liberty,

Senator Tammy Nichols
District 10