Gov. Mike DeWine said AI regulation must come from Washington, not state capitals, during a Tuesday, Sept. 15 appearance in New Albany.

"It can't be done at the state level… it has to be done universally," DeWine told reporters at LifeTown Columbus, an indoor mock village on Dublin-Granville Road where children with special needs practice life skills. He was there to help launch an AI-powered hologram tool called Super Buddy, which NBC4 reported he called "a positive use of AI."

DeWine, who is term-limited and will leave office in January 2027, said he would not encourage his successor to pursue state-level AI regulations. He suggested a panel of experts advising the president would be "an appropriate place to start," the Springfield News-Sun reported.

New Albany is home to one of the densest clusters of AI computing in the nation, according to Ohio Capital Journal reporting. Amazon Web Services opened its first data center outside New Albany in 2016. The business park has since drawn billions in investment from tech giants including Meta, which has invested more than $1.5 billion in Ohio data center infrastructure.

That growth has paid off for city coffers. In tax year 2024, data centers generated $10 million in community development charge revenue, according to the city's data center finances page. A single hyperscaler produced revenue equivalent to $178 million in payroll. Those revenues helped New Albany earn AAA bond ratings from both Moody's and S&P.

The data center boom faces growing resistance statewide. At least 138 Ohio municipalities and townships had active moratoriums on data centers as of Thursday, Sept. 17, and 23 communities had effectively banned them, WBNS/10TV reported. A Bowling Green State University poll released that same day found 78% of Ohioans support moratoriums until more information can be gathered. Ohio's state tax incentives for data centers are on hiatus, and as we reported Friday, Sept. 18, legislators on both sides of the aisle are pushing to make that permanent.

DeWine acknowledged the tension. He said the country needs to "control AI" but also must keep developing the technology, citing competition with China. The Springfield News-Sun reported that his comments made him the latest state leader to defer AI regulation to the federal government, at a time when Congress has shown little appetite for action and President Donald Trump has resisted federal guardrails.

Trump posted on Truth Social on Monday, Sept. 14 that AI is a "Golden Goose" and framed concerns about AI and data centers as "hoaxes," according to the Springfield News-Sun.

DeWine's successor will inherit the question. Democrat Amy Acton and Republican Vivek Ramaswamy are competing to replace him. Voters in four Ohio cities with active data center moratoriums will also decide in November whether to ban data centers permanently.