‘One rule’: Trump says he will sign executive order blocking state AI laws despite bipartisan opposition

President Donald Trump said Monday that he plans to sign an executive order this week that would prevent states from enacting their own regulations for artificial intelligence technology.

“I will be issuing an executive order with one rule this week,” Trump posted on social media. “You can’t expect a company to get 50 approvals every time it wants to do something.”

“There must be only one rule book if we want to continue to lead in artificial intelligence,” Trump said. “We are beating all countries at this stage of the race, but that will not last long if we have 50 countries, many of them bad actors, involved in the rules and approval process… AI will be destroyed in its infancy!”

Trump’s statement comes days after an attempt to prevent states from regulating artificial intelligence was suppressed in the Senate, where Congress was unable to agree to include the highly unpopular proposal in the must-pass defense budget bill.

The rapid pace of AI development and the lack of general consumer protections from the federal government have led many states to enact their own rules around the technology. California, for example, has the AI ​​Safety and Transparency Bill SB 53, while Tennessee’s ELVIS law protects musicians and performers from unauthorized deepfakes of their voices and likenesses.

Silicon Valley figures, including OpenAI chief Greg Brockman and David Sachs, the White House’s AI czar-turned-AI czar, have argued that such regulations by states would create an unworkable patchwork of laws that would stifle innovation and threaten the US lead against China in the race to develop AI technology.

Silicon Valley has a powerful lobbying arm that has stymied meaningful regulation of the technology for years, and proponents of states’ regulatory rights say there is no reason to believe state AI laws could “destroy the progress of AI,” as venture capitalists and technology companies claim.

Trump’s executive order, a draft of which was leaked a few weeks ago, would create an “AI Litigation Task Force” to challenge state AI laws in court, direct agencies to evaluate state laws deemed “onerous,” and push the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission toward national standards that go beyond state rules.

The order would also give Sachs direct influence over AI policy, replacing the usual role of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, currently headed by Michael Kratsios.

Attempts to block states’ authority to regulate AI have been deeply unpopular on both sides of Congress. Earlier this year, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) introduced a proposal that would have put a 10-year moratorium on AI legislation in a federal budget bill, but it was rejected by a vote of 99-1, in a rare moment of bipartisan agreement that tech companies should not operate without oversight.

When Trump’s draft leaked last month, several Republican politicians spoke out.

“States must reserve the right to regulate and enact laws regarding AI and anything else for the benefit of their state. Federalism must be preserved,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) posted on X.

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) posted late last week: “I oppose stripping Florida of our ability to legislate in the best interest of the people. A ten-year AI ban would prohibit state regulation of AI, which would prevent Florida from enacting important protections for individuals, children, and families.”

DeSantis also described data centers as draining energy and water resources, as well as killing potential jobs.

“The rise of AI is the most important economic and cultural shift happening right now,” he said in a post on November 10; “denying people the ability to productively direct these technologies through autonomy constitutes federal government overreach and allows tech companies to take off.”

Late last week, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) warned Trump against labor, advising him to “leave AI to the states” to preserve federalism and allow local protections.

The desire to protect people from the potential harms of AI technology is not unfounded. There have been several deaths by suicide after prolonged conversations with AI chatbots, and psychologists have recorded an uptick in cases of a condition they call “AI psychosis.”

A bipartisan coalition of more than 35 state attorneys general warned Congress last month that overstepping state AI laws could have “severe consequences,” and more than 200 state lawmakers issued an open letter opposing federal preemptions, citing setbacks to progress on AI safety.