Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida is using artificial intelligence to help find government waste, but he cautioned that the technology must be approached with balance, neither ignoring the new technology nor completely submitting to it.  

He also called out flaws with current AI technology and said policies may be necessary to protect citizens.  

“It’s one thing to have technology to enhance the human experience; it’s one thing to try to have technology displace that,” DeSantis said. “But you also have the fact that relying on AI…the reality is it is flawed.”   

While in Gainesville to announce an initial batch of local government audits on Tuesday, DeSantis touched on Florida Gator sports and said he looked forward to some of the exciting matchups on the schedule for the fall.  

He also lauded the Florida Gators and their successful men’s basketball season. DeSantis said he wanted to release the news that the University of Florida is the first to win three national championships in both men’s football and basketball.  

But he decided to check the information past Grok, the AI assistant used by Elon Musk’s X platform. That’s when the war started, DeSantis said.  

Grok failed to include Florida on a list of national championship-winning teams for football, and DeSantis said he had to correct Grok and mention the years Florida won. Then, the artificial intelligence would recalculate its answer and respond to the governor’s question. 

DeSantis said the state of Florida would roll out an overarching approach to the technology in the coming months. He’s hinted at the rollout in past meetings and said there’s a lot of perils with AI, including questions about humanity.  

“Are we functioning human beings who think for ourselves? Are we just going to rely on computers to do all of our thinking?” DeSantis questioned.  

The Florida Legislature considered AI in the 2025 session and passed a bill that directed the Department of Commerce to study the impacts of automation, artificial intelligence and robotics on statewide employment. The stated goal was to allow Florida to be proactive and create policies that protect workers.  

However, DeSantis shot down the bill.  

“Recognizing that AI trends are ever-evolving in delivery, skill development, and in-demand career tracks, it makes no sense to wait for a report to be published by the state’s labor statistics bureau. Indeed, such a report – to the extent it has value – would likely be obsolete by the time it was actually published,” DeSantis said in his veto letter.  

At the Gainesville press conference, DeSantis said he rebuffed a failed effort at the federal level to prevent state governments from enacting AI regulations. The provision was included in the “Big Beautiful Bill” passed by Congress the first week of July, but the U.S. Senate removed the portion.  

While he has no particular regulations in mind, DeSantis said AI policies may be needed to protect citizens in the coming years. He said it’s an issue that the state and country will be forced to address. 

“I don’t think that we want our society to just be turned over to tech overlords,” DeSantis said.