Trump Signs Executive Order Blocking States From Regulating AI

Trump's latest executive order prevents states from regulating the use of artificial intelligence.

Donald Trump is making his stance on AI clear with a new executi v e order that prevents states from regulating the rapidly growing technology.

On Dec. 11, the president signed an executive order preventing states from enforcing their own AI regulations, instead establishing a “single national framework” that directly challenges state-level rules governing the technology, NPR reports. While signing the order, Trump compared the move to China’s centralized approach to governance and the country’s unilateral acceptance of President Xi Jinping’s direction.

“We have to be unified. China is unified because they have one vote, that’s President Xi. He says do it, and that’s the end of that,” Trump said.

With the new policy, the Justice Department will establish an “AI Litigation Task Force” to challenge state-level AI laws and direct the Federal Trade Commission and Federal Communications Commission to coordinate with the DOJ in advancing the White House’s AI agenda by bypassing what it calls “onerous” state and local regulations. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will also examine whether federal rural broadband funding can be withheld from states with AI laws the administration deems unfavorable.

“This is an executive order that orders aspects of your administration to take decisive action to ensure that AI can operate within a single national framework in this country, as opposed to being subject to state-level regulation that could potentially cripple the industry,” White House aide Will Scharf said of the executive order in the Oval Office.

The executive order is expected to face legal challenges, as tech policy experts note the Trump administration cannot preempt state regulation without an act of Congress. The order also instructs Trump’s AI advisor, venture capitalist David Sacks, to collaborate with lawmakers on potential legislation.

While Sacks insisted the move would safeguard children, the order has already sparked backlash from some Trump supporters, including groups involved in bipartisan efforts to pass AI safety laws for minors.

“This is a huge lost opportunity by the Trump administration to lead the Republican Party into a broadly consultative process,” said Michael Toscano, director of the Family First Technology Initiative at the Institute for Family Studies, a conservative think tank. “It doesn’t make sense for a populist movement to cut out the people on the most critical issue of our day. But nonetheless, that is what they are vigorously trying to do.”

The executive order follows Congress’s earlier attempt this year to block Republican efforts to stop states from regulating AI. In July, the Senate voted nearly unanimously to remove a proposed 10-year ban on state-level AI enforcement from Trump’s domestic policy bill before passing it. Lawmakers also rejected adding a similar moratorium to the National Defense Authorization Act, despite Trump’s push for its inclusion.