The Department of Justice sided with Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company on Friday, joining a lawsuit that xAI filed against the state of Colorado over a state law requiring AI developers to guard against algorithmic discrimination.
DOJ Civil Rights Division head Harmeet Dhillon announced the intervention, describing it as the department's first constitutional challenge in an AI case. "We join @xai's landmark suit, and stand against woke DEI standards being imposed by Colorado," Dhillon posted on social media.
The Colorado law at the center of the dispute was passed by the state legislature in 2024 and is scheduled to take effect in June. It requires "high-risk" AI developers to exercise "reasonable care" to prevent algorithmic discrimination based on protected classes including race and religion. The law applies both to developers like xAI, which built the chatbot platform Grok, and to entities that deploy AI tools, such as hospitals and banks.
Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed the bill but publicly raised concerns that it could drive tech companies away from the state by imposing burdensome regulations. His office did not respond to a request for comment on the DOJ's decision to intervene.
Both xAI and the DOJ argue the law violates the U.S. Constitution. The Justice Department's case focuses on equal protection violations, alleging that the law "fosters further discrimination" by allowing developers to favor certain demographic groups to increase diversity or address historical inequities. Government lawyers wrote that the law "jeopardizes the United States' position as the global AI leader by requiring AI systems to incorporate discriminatory ideology that prioritizes preferred demographic characteristics and outcomes over accurate and merit-based outputs."
xAI's own complaint, filed earlier this month, goes further. The company alleges unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination, arguing the law would force AI developers to output what it calls "progressive ideology." Musk founded xAI in 2023.
Colorado has faced a string of legal losses in high-profile disputes involving similar constitutional questions in recent years, including defeats before the U.S. Supreme Court. The xAI case adds to a growing body of litigation testing the boundaries of how states can regulate AI platforms without running into First and 14th Amendment barriers.
The law is set to take effect in June. No hearing date in the case has been announced.
