Exclusive: Texas AG candidate unveils "AI audit" plan
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Johnson speaks at a press conference at the Texas Capitol in August 2025. Photo: Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images
Nathan Johnson, the Democratic nominee for Texas attorney general, is pitching a plan to examine how existing state laws can be updated to protect constituents from AI harms.
Why it matters: State attorneys general have largely focused on wielding existing law to bring lawsuits against tech companies.
- Johnson wants to go a step further and get the legislature to pass laws that account for the AI age.
Driving the news: Johnson wants to look at consumer protection, fair competition and employment laws and come up with a specific list of recommendations for the legislature — all within the first 30 days in office, according to an announcement shared first with Axios.
- "Stuff that we thought the statutes were fine to handle three years ago might as well have been 3,000 years ago. The pace is changing so rapidly," Johnson told Axios.
- Texas has passed AI-specific laws, but Johnson says they still fall short — for example, by not requiring employers to disclose when they use AI to determine who gets fired.
The big picture: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been gutted during President Trump's second term. It has has lost much of its workforce and the agency has dropped dozens of investigations and transparency practices, prompting Democratic and Republican attorneys general to take on more consumer protection work.
- States have also been moving forward on AI regulation, while Washington has focused on a deregulatory approach coupled with preempting state action.
- The Texas Responsible AI Governance Act took effect in the beginning of 2026 and prohibits AI designed with specific harms, such as discrimination or child exploitation.
- The attorney general would be responsible for enforcing that comprehensive bill and several other AI-specific ones.
The other side: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has brought lawsuits against tech companies, including Meta and Character.AI.
- "What might distinguish me more from Ken Paxton is I'm not going to be selective in my enforcement," Johnson said.
- "Paxton has gone after a lot of tech giants, but he leaves alone anyone affiliated with Elon Musk. I'm not going to apply the law to everybody except to my political friends and allies."
- Paxton's office did not respond to a request for comment.
