The GOP’s budget reconciliation bill includes a ban on state-level artificial intelligence regulations that could undermine efforts in several states to rein in pricing consultants like RealPage, a company that helps landlords use AI to “optimize” rent hikes.

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Republicans’ massive artificial intelligence giveaway in their must-pass budget reconciliation bill could kill crackdowns on real estate management company RealPage for raising rents and contributing to the country’s housing crisis. The move comes after RealPage drastically scaled up its lobbying efforts in Washington.

The language in the bill amounts to a ten-year ban on state governments passing any new regulations on artificial intelligence technology. According to congressional staffers and outside policy advocates monitoring the reconciliation package, that section would apply to the growing industry of pricing consultants using AI tools across various sectors, the most powerful player being RealPage.

RealPage, which offers an “analytics” platform for landlords, is currently facing a bipartisan crackdown in a number of states for helping landlords “optimize” rent increases. Those reforms would be preemptively nullified if the current language in the budget bill makes it into the final version. The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted on an initial markup of the bill yesterday afternoon.

RealPage has been hit with a torrent of class action lawsuits since 2022 for allegedly facilitating a price-fixing cartel among landlords, including an active antitrust case from the Department of Justice.

In response to these threats, RealPage has dramatically staffed up its Washington lobbying team...