This seminar is part of the Advanced Seminar on Law and Technology series.
This Article develops a comprehensive analysis of the legal, political, and economic implications of preempting state and local artificial intelligence (“AI”) laws. It then uses the AI preemption debate to explore a larger issue: Which regulator should be responsible for paradigm-shifting new technologies called GPTs, or general purpose technologies? Sharp disagreement about state AI regulation erupted in 2025 as a result of two failed efforts in Congress to enact new law preempting state and local AI measures. After these legislative efforts foundered, the White House promulgated its own preemptive executive order in December 2025. Close examination of this AI preemption debate reveals first a question about the legally appropriate channel for federal preemption—legislative or executive. Second, it frames a consequentialist inquiry into the relative costs and benefits of regulatory centralization. This calculus varies depending on whether innovation or diffusion of the technology is at stake. By building an analytic framework for these legal and policy inquiries, this Article offers a general lens for determining an optimal regulator of any new GPT. Past GPTs, including railroads, electricity, and the personal computer, unleashed rapid, dynamic economic growth by spurring accelerating productivity increases. Badly regulated, such gains may dissipate. In consequence, the choice of who regulates GPTs may shape national economic and geopolitical trajectories. The Article concludes by applying its analytic framework to another emergent GPT, quantum computing.
Aziz Z. Huq is a scholar of US and comparative constitutional law. His recent work concerns democratic backsliding and the regulation of AI. His award-winning scholarship is published in several books and in leading law, social science, and political science journals. He also writes for Politico, the Washington Post, the New York Times, and many other non-specialist publications. In 2015, he received the Graduating Students Award for Teaching Excellence. He has an active pro bono practice, and is on the board of the Seminary Coop and the ACLU of Illinois.
Moderator: Benjamin Chen, Associate Professor & Director of the Law and Technology Centre, The University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law
To register, please go to https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_regform.aspx?guest=Y&UEID=106324. A paper will be circulated in advance and attendees will be expected to have read the paper before the seminar.
We are applying for a CPD point with the Law Society of Hong Kong.
For inquiries, please contact Ms. Grace Chan at / 3917 4727.