The council also voted on an ordinance that would bar the distribution and deployment of superintelligent artificial intelligence in Bloomington by any person or corporation. The ordinance passed unanimously.
The ordinance defines superintelligence as AI that outperforms humans at nearly all mental tasks and can act autonomously, such as rewriting its own code or operating without continuous human oversight on tasks that could affect infrastructure, financial markets or public safety.
This applies to the use of superintelligence in Bloomington through a browser, app or other connection.
The ordinance acts as an interim public safety measure to the Bloomington Municipal Code. Through this ordinance, the city is allowed to seek civil penalties, injunctive relief and referral to the county prosecutor.
According to a memo accompanying the ordinance, neither the state nor federal government have enacted safety parameters for artificial superintelligence. To address these dangers during government inaction, the interim public safety perimeter would protect digital networks and local businesses from artificial superintelligence in Bloomington.
The interim measure will only stay in place during federal and state inaction. If the Indiana General Assembly were to establish a safety framework to address artificial superintelligence, the ordinance would expire 91 days after.
Yeah this seems like nonsense, but I’m guessing it’s intended more as a show of the desire for stronger regulation, the way they frame it as a stopgap until the higher levels of government come up with something more coherent.
Then again, given they’re apparently using “superintelligence” unironically, it could be they’re just a bunch of spooked Skynet doomers.
https://www.idsnews.com/article/2026/11/bloomington-city-council-ai-commission-member-removal-udo
Oh, so they didn’t actually ban anything.
Yeah this seems like nonsense, but I’m guessing it’s intended more as a show of the desire for stronger regulation, the way they frame it as a stopgap until the higher levels of government come up with something more coherent.
Then again, given they’re apparently using “superintelligence” unironically, it could be they’re just a bunch of spooked Skynet doomers.
This was my takeaway, it’s more of a statement on inaction and inattention by government at higher levels
Yeah. They’re basically banning skynet, to which skynet would reply, “Ned Stark had a piece of paper too.”