US president Donald Trump’s new decade-long freeze on artificial intelligence regulation could “absolutely” indirectly impact Bermuda, says a tech professional.

Tommy Valentine, cofounder of Bermudian-based firm Elevity AI, said the United States often sets the global tone for tech development.

“If it becomes turbocharged and regulated in the US, we could see ripple effects in expectations, tools and behaviours, worldwide,” Mr Valentine said.

He encouraged Bermuda to set its own AI policies, saying the island is already ahead thanks to its early steps in AI education.

The controversy surrounds a few lines about AI regulation slipped into the 1,116-page One Big Beautiful Bill, otherwise mostly concerned with extended tax cuts and an increase to the US national debt ceiling.

OBBB was passed by the US Senate yesterday.

“It could tip the scales, favouring tech giants at the expense of the very people it should safeguard,” said Henryk Marszalek, chief information and security officer, and risk manager at Bermuda-managed services provider Ingine.

He likened it to a world where homeowners could construct anything they wanted, without regulation, liability or oversight.

He stated that we would never allow the same negligence in city planning, yet this legislation does something similar for big tech.

“It strips away essential scrutiny, giving powerful corporations free rein while weakening consumer protections,” he said. “Artists, musicians and creators ‒ the backbone of innovation ‒ will have fewer rights to uphold originality, privacy and fairness against AI-driven industries.”

Mr Valentine said it reinforced the need for international conversations around AI ethics, beyond any bill or border.

“Each country should consider the benefits of its own AI ethics committee, as more businesses [and even private citizens] increase their usage of the technology,” he said. He thought the AI terms in the bill could have some benefits in the short term, but found the long term impact more concerning.

“Ten years in any area of tech is a long time, and a decade in AI is almost impossible to imagine,” he said.

He thought having AI regulated only at the federal level will likely accelerate development for larger firms who have the resources to scale quickly. However, without balanced safeguards, he saw a risk of prioritising unchecked growth over ethical and sustainable innovation.

He stressed that it did not automatically mean that there would be an explosion of problems with AI.

“Ethical deployment should be just as much a priority as technical capability,” Mr Valentine said. “The world as a whole is still very much figuring this all out.”

Two years ago, former US president Joe Biden signed an executive order establishing safety standards for AI development. Mr Trump has since hit the delete key on them.

This week President Trump signed an executive order saying the no-regulation policy was to improve the United States’ competitiveness with China in the AI sphere.

Critics of the AI part of the bill worry it could leave the US with no AI regulation all, while proponents think it could speed up innovation.

“If AI grows faster than organisations can adapt to it responsibly, it increases the pressure to automate rather than augment,” Mr Valentine told The Royal Gazette. “That runs counter to the kind of inclusive, human-centred adoption Elevity AI advocates for.”