Maura Healey is the Democratic Governor of Massachusetts, first elected in 2022.
Case
Jon Ossoff urges inspections, legislation and an AI treaty; Donald Trump says existing federal powers are sufficient. Their opposing positions raise a concrete question: should Washington add safeguards for frontier AI?
Role at the time: Governor of Massachusetts, in an official press release and on her official X account
Statement summary
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey called for the state's Mass Wins economic development bill to include independent safety evaluations of the most powerful AI models and earlier reporting requirements for serious safety incidents, rather than relying on companies to assess their own systems. She said AI's rapid development raises serious concerns about safety, accountability, privacy, civil rights and public trust, and called for strong action at both the state and federal levels.
“AI has enormous potential to drive scientific discovery, strengthen key industries, improve public services, and create new opportunities for businesses and residents across Massachusetts. At the same time, the rapid pace of AI development raises serious concerns about safety, accountability, privacy, civil rights, the future of work, and public trust. We cannot allow this technology to move faster than our ability to put appropriate safeguards in place, and we can't let the responsibility for managing these risks rest with technology companies alone. We need strong action on both the state and federal levels.”
The case's fixed reference point is the proposition that Washington should impose stronger safeguards on frontier AI. Healey endorses it directly, pairing a concrete state legislative push (independent evaluations and incident reporting in the Mass Wins Act) with an explicit call for federal action, saying responsibility "can't rest with technology companies alone." That places her with the same week's cluster of state officials making this argument: Shapiro, Pritzker and Newsom. The closest competing label is mixed_or_conditional, since she also emphasizes AI's benefits to innovation and the economy. That loses because acknowledging AI's potential upside alongside a call for safeguards is not a competing position on the case's reference point; DI's guidance treats a fair, brief acknowledgement as insufficient to dilute an otherwise clear conclusion, and her operative recommendation is unambiguously for stronger safeguards.
Statement dates: September 18, 2026
Statement dates: September 18, 2026
