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Nicholas Xenakis

Nick Xenakis draws on his Capitol Hill and legal experience to provide public policy and crisis management counsel to clients in a range of industries.

Nick assists clients in developing and implementing policy solutions to litigation and regulatory matters, including on issues involving antitrust, artificial intelligence, bankruptcy, criminal justice, financial services, immigration, intellectual property, life sciences, national security, and technology. He also represents companies and individuals in investigations before U.S. Senate and House Committees.

Nick previously served as General Counsel for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, where he managed committee staff and directed legislative efforts. He also participated in key judicial and Cabinet confirmations, including of Attorneys General and Supreme Court Justices. Before his time on Capitol Hill, Nick served as an attorney with the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

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This update highlights key mid-year legislative and regulatory developments and builds on our first quarter update related to artificial intelligence (“AI”), connected and automated vehicles (“CAVs”), Internet of Things (“IoT”), and cryptocurrencies and blockchain developments.

I. Federal AI Legislative Developments

In the first session of the 119th Congress, lawmakers rejected a proposed moratorium on state and local enforcement of AI laws and advanced several AI legislative proposals focused on deepfake-related harms.  Specifically, on July 1, after weeks of negotiations, the Senate voted 99-1 to strike a proposed 10-year moratorium on state and local enforcement of AI laws from the budget reconciliation package, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1), which President Trump signed into law.  The vote to strike the moratorium follows the collapse of an agreement on revised language that would have shortened the moratorium to 5 years and allowed states to enforce “generally applicable laws,” including child online safety, digital replica, and CSAM laws, that do not have an “undue or disproportionate effect” on AI.  Congress could technically still consider the moratorium during this session, but the chances of that happening are low based on both the political atmosphere and the lack of a must-pass legislative vehicle in which it could be included.  See our blog post on this topic for more information.

Additionally, lawmakers continue to focus legislation on deepfakes and intimate imagery.  For example, on May 19, President Trump signed the Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks (“TAKE IT DOWN”) Act (H.R. 633 / S. 146) into law, which requires online platforms to establish a notice and takedown process for nonconsensual intimate visual depictions, including certain depictions created using AI.  See our blog post on this topic for more information.  Meanwhile, members of Congress continued to pursue additional legislation to address deepfake-related harms, such as the STOP CSAM Act of 2025 (S. 1829 / H.R. 3921) and the Disrupt Explicit Forged Images And Non-Consensual Edits (“DEFIANCE”) Act (H.R. 3562 / S. 1837).Continue Reading U.S. Tech Legislative & Regulatory Update – 2025 Mid-Year Update

On April 28, the House of Representatives voted 409-2 to pass the Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks Act (“TAKE IT DOWN Act”), which criminalizes the publication of nonconsensual intimate visual depictions (“NCII”) and requires online platforms to establish a notice and takedown…

Continue Reading U.S. Congress Passes Bill Establishing Notice and Takedown Regime for Publication of Nonconsensual Intimate Visual Depictions

This quarterly update highlights key legislative, regulatory, and litigation developments in the first quarter of 2025 related to artificial intelligence (“AI”), connected and automated vehicles (“CAVs”), and cryptocurrencies and blockchain. 

I. Artificial Intelligence

I.  Federal Legislative Developments

In the first quarter, members of Congress introduced several AI bills addressing…

Continue Reading U.S. Tech Legislative & Regulatory Update – First Quarter 2025

On March 24, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution held a hearing on the “Censorship Industrial Complex,” where senators and witnesses expressed divergent views on risks to First Amendment rights.  Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO), the Subcommittee Chair, began the hearing by warning that the “vast censorship enterprise that the…

Continue Reading Senate Judiciary Subcommittee Holds Hearing on the “Censorship Industrial Complex”

The Senate Intelligence Committee’s January 30, 2025, confirmation hearing for former Representative Tulsi Gabbard, President Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence, previewed a potentially difficult reauthorization path for Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (“FISA”).  While Gabbard appears to now publicly favor reauthorization of Section 702, her…

Continue Reading Tulsi Gabbard’s Confirmation Hearing for Director of National Intelligence: A Preview of a FISA Section 702 Reauthorization Fight?

On January 14, 2025, the Biden Administration issued an Executive Order on “Advancing United States Leadership in Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure” (the “EO”), with the goals of preserving U.S. economic competitiveness and access to powerful AI models, preventing U.S. dependence on foreign infrastructure, and promoting U.S. clean energy production to power the development and operation of AI.  Pursuant to these goals, the EO outlines criteria and timeframes for the construction and operation of “frontier AI infrastructure,” including data centers and clean energy resources, by private-sector entities on federal land.  The EO builds upon a series of actions on AI issued by the Biden Administration, including the October 2023 Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy AI and an October 2024 AI National Security Memorandum.

I. Federal Sites for AI Data Centers & Clean Energy Facilities

The EO contains various requirements for soliciting and leasing federal sites for AI infrastructure, including:

The EO directs the Departments of Defense (“DOD”) and Energy (“DOE”) to each identify and lease, by the end of 2027, at least three federal sites to private-sector entities for the construction and operation of “frontier AI data centers” and “clean energy facilities” to power them (“frontier AI infrastructure”).  Additionally, the EO directs the Department of the Interior (“DOI”) to identify (1) federal sites suitable for additional private-sector clean energy facilities as components of frontier AI infrastructure, and (2) at least five “Priority Geothermal Zones” suitable for geothermal power generation.  Finally, the EO directs the DOD and DOE to publish a joint list of ten high-priority federal sites that are most conducive for nuclear power capacities that can be readily available to serve AI data centers by December 31, 2035.

  • Public Solicitations.  By March 31, 2025, the DOD and DOE must launch competitive, 30-day public solicitations for private-sector proposals to lease federal land for frontier AI infrastructure construction.  In addition to identifying proposed sides for AI infrastructure construction, solicitations will require applicants to submit detailed plans regarding:
  • Timelines, financing methods, and technical construction plans for the site;
  • Proposed frontier AI training work to occur on the site once operational;
  • Use of high labor and construction standards at the site; and
  • Proposed lab-security measures, including personnel and material access requirements, associated with the operation of frontier AI infrastructure.

The DOD and DOE must select winning proposals by June 30, 2025, taking into account effects on competition in the broader AI ecosystem and other selection criteria, including an applicant’s proposed financing and funding sources; plans for high-quality AI training, resource efficiency, labor standards, and commercialization of IP developed at the site; safety and security measures and capabilities; AI workforce capabilities; and prior experience with comparable construction projects.  Continue Reading Biden Administration Releases Executive Order on AI Infrastructure

At the end of his prior administration, President Trump tried to overhaul the federal workforce by making it easier to remove a substantial number of federal employees. With his incoming administration, President-elect Trump may try to do so again. Though Presidents have broad authority over federal employees, these renewed efforts may face new legal challenges because of a recent Biden Administration rule specifically intended to prevent a rollback of civil service protections.  Importantly, the rule itself recognizes federal employees’ long-standing reliance interests in their jobs that could make rescinding the new rule particularly difficult.

To go back to the end of the previous Trump Administration, on October 21, 2020, President Trump issued an “Executive Order on Creating Schedule F in the Excepted Service.”  That order created a new Schedule F for “[p]ositions of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character not normally subject to change as a result of Presidential transition.”  Simply put, it would have allowed the President to treat some career civil servants as political appointees and exempt them from Civil Service Rules and Regulations, including protections from removal, thereby giving the President expanded authority to remove federal employees at will.

Though President Trump’s order never went into effect, the Biden Administration nonetheless finalized a rule on April 4, 2024, that clearly responded to it.  That rule, titled “Upholding Civil Service Protections and Merit System Principles,” “clarifies and reinforces longstanding civil service protections and merit system principles[.]”  Interestingly, the rule’s preamble directly addresses a situation where “a future Administration,” such as the incoming Trump Administration, “seeks to rescind this rule and replace it with [Schedule F].”  The preamble goes on to read as a roadmap of the significant hurdles rollback efforts would face.  With that framing in mind, the rule explains that a future Administration, in complying with the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), would need to:Continue Reading Civil Service Protections in the Trump Administration

This quarterly update highlights key legislative, regulatory, and litigation developments in the third quarter of 2024 related to artificial intelligence (“AI”) and connected and automated vehicles (“CAVs”).  As noted below, some of these developments provide industry with the opportunity for participation and comment.

I.      Artificial Intelligence

Federal Legislative Developments

There continued to be strong bipartisan interest in passing federal legislation related to AI.  While it has been challenging to pass legislation through this Congress, there remains the possibility that one or more of the more targeted bills that have bipartisan support and Committee approval could advance during the lame duck period.

  • Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee: Lawmakers in the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee moved forward with nearly a dozen AI-related bills, including legislation focused on developing voluntary technical guidelines for AI systems and establishing AI testing and risk assessment frameworks. 
    • In July, the Committee voted to advance the Validation and Evaluation for Trustworthy (VET) Artificial Intelligence Act (S.4769), which was introduced by Senators John Hickenlooper (D-CO) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV).  The Act would require the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) to develop voluntary guidelines and specifications for internal and external assurances of AI systems, in collaboration with public and private sector organizations. 
    • In August, the Promoting United States Leadership in Standards Act of 2024 (S.3849) was placed on the Senate legislative calendar after advancing out of the Committee in July.  Introduced in February 2024 by Senators Mark Warner (D-VA) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), the Act would require NIST to support U.S. involvement in the development of AI technical standards through briefings, pilot programs, and other activities.  
    • In July, the Future of Artificial Intelligence Innovation Act of 2024 (S.4178)— introduced in April by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-CA), Todd Young (R-IN), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)—was ordered to be reported out of the Committee and gained three additional co-sponsors: Senators Roger F. Wicker (R-MS), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ).  The Act would codify the AI Safety Institute, which would be required to develop voluntary guidelines and standards for promoting AI innovation through public-private partnerships and international alliances.  
    • In July, the Artificial Intelligence Research, Innovation, and Accountability Act of 2023 (S.3312), passed out of the Committee, as amended.  Introduced in November 2023 by Senators John Thune (R-SD), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Roger Wicker (R-MS), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), the Act would establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for “high-impact” AI systems, including testing and evaluation standards, risk assessment requirements, and transparency report requirements.  The Act would also require NIST to develop sector-specific recommendations for agency oversight of high-impact AI, and to research and develop means for distinguishing between content created by humans and AI systems.
  • Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee:  In July, the Senate Homeland Security Committee voted to advance the PREPARED for AI Act (S.4495).  Introduced in June by Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Thomas Tillis (R-NC), the Act would establish a risk-based framework for the procurement and use of AI by federal agencies and create a Chief AI Officers Council and agency AI Governance Board to ensure that federal agencies benefit from advancements in AI.
  • National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025:  In August, Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Mike Braun (R-IN) proposed an amendment (S.Amdt.3232) to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 (S.4638) (“NDAA”).  The amendment would add the Transparent Automated Governance Act and the AI Leadership Training Act to the NDAA.  The Transparent Automated Governance Act would require the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) to issue guidance to agencies to implement transparency practices relating to the use of AI and other automated systems.  The AI Leadership Training Act would require OMB to establish a training program for federal procurement officials on the operational benefits and privacy risks of AI.  The Act would also require the Office of Personnel Management (“OPM”) to establish a training program on AI for federal management officials and supervisors.   

Continue Reading U.S. Tech Legislative, Regulatory & Litigation Update – Third Quarter 2024

In late August, the California legislature passed two bills that would limit the creation or use of “digital replicas,” making California the latest state to seek new protections for performers, artists, and other employees in response to the rise of AI-generated content.  These state efforts come as Congress considers the…

Continue Reading California Passes Digital Replica Legislation as Congress Considers Federal Approach