Another attempt to prevent government AI regulation has failed… for now

A recent attempt to pressure states that regulate artificial intelligence in an annual defense bill has reportedly been rejected after facing bipartisan opposition.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) said Tuesday that Republican leaders will look “other places” to include the measure — an effort that President Trump has supported — according to The Hill.

The proposal to prevent states from enacting their own AI regulations came months after GOP lawmakers sought to include a 10-year moratorium on state AI laws in Trump’s tax and spending bill earlier this year. This ruling subsequently failed due to strong resistance from both parties.

Silicon Valley has supported such measures, arguing that state regulations create an unworkable patchwork of rules that may stifle innovation.

Critics argue that most state AI legislation focuses on safety, transparency, and consumer protection, and in the absence of federal AI laws that perform these tasks, preventing states from regulating would effectively hand control to big tech companies without oversight.

Scalise reportedly acknowledged that a defense bill was not the appropriate place to include such a provision, and reiterated Trump’s previous calls for the ban to be introduced as a separate bill. A leaked draft executive order suggests Trump is considering taking matters into his own hands, although those efforts have been paused for now.