In a recent NPR video interview, Utah Governor Spencer Cox argued that states should keep primary authority to regulate artificial intelligence, warning against broad federal intervention. He also linked AI’s rapid growth to surging energy demands, backing expanded nuclear power and calling for a "human-flourishing" approach to technology.
In an NPR video interview with host Steve Inskeep, Utah Governor Spencer Cox addressed the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and its implications for energy use, jobs and family life.
Cox said he wants states to retain broad power to regulate AI, expressing concern about Washington’s role. "I'm very worried about any type of federal incursion into states' abilities to regulate AI," he told NPR, arguing that policymakers should be "incredibly cautious" about how AI is deployed in schools, homes and communities.
The governor also discussed Utah’s push for more nuclear power to help supply electricity for the energy-intensive data centers that underpin AI systems. Asked what Utah is trying to do with nuclear power, Cox responded, "We're trying to build it, and lots of it." He noted that in the 1950s and 1960s, the United States was a global leader in nuclear technology but then "stopped doing it," while other countries continued to build reactors. Cox credited what he described as emerging bipartisan momentum: "It's happening – red states, blue states working together. The federal government finally gets it. They're working through the permitting process on nuclear as well. We can do it. We can get it done."
Cox acknowledged potential downsides of the boom in data centers and AI, including pressure on the power grid and household budgets. "The expansion of data centers, of course, is going to use a tremendous amount of energy," he said. "So that's a concern because that's going to raise prices if we aren't doing this." At the same time, he framed AI development as part of a global "arms race," warning that "if we don't do this, China and Russia are going to do it," which he said could put the United States at a significant economic and national security disadvantage.
Drawing a parallel to social media, Cox argued that AI could amplify harms to children and families if left unchecked. "We've seen how social media companies, the most powerful companies in the history of the world, have used this incredible tool to utterly destroy our kids and our families, their mental health, to use this in ways that have made them a lot of money and gotten people addicted to outrage," he said. "AI's going to be even worse."
Inskeep also raised Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's earlier warning that AI could cause job losses much faster than the multi-decade decline experienced in the auto and steel industries. Cox agreed that AI-driven disruption is likely to hit some professions harder than others. "This is going to be very different," he said. "Plumbers are going to do great. Attorneys are going to do very poorly. We've never had that kind of technological disruption. I don't know what that means. I'm just pointing it out – that it is going to impact a different segment of society than has in the past."
Cox said Utah is trying to respond by promoting what he called a "human-flourishing model" for AI. The goal, he told NPR, is to encourage companies "to understand that they have a responsibility not just to make money, but to actually make sure that their products make human life better for all of us," and to work closely with regulators.
When Inskeep asked whether those efforts could be overwhelmed by the sheer scale and speed of AI investment and infrastructure, Cox acknowledged that much of the building is inevitable. "That investment is going to happen. That building is going to happen somewhere, no matter what," he said. "And so we should make sure that it happens in the right way. It's really going to have to be regulators working closely with the AI companies to make sure that we're protecting our people."
The interview with Cox was published November 28, 2025, and is available in full through NPR’s platforms.
