Trump signs an executive order threatening to punish states for passing artificial intelligence laws

President Donald Trump The United States signed a long-awaited executive order on Thursday that launches a plan to create a national regulatory framework for artificial intelligence while undermining states’ abilities to enact their own rules.

The order, titled “Ensuring a National AI Policy Framework,” creates an AI Litigation Task Force within the Department of Justice to directly challenge state AI laws that the administration finds conflict with federal policy. It also directs the Commerce Department to draft guidelines that could make states ineligible for future broadband funding if they pass “onerous” AI laws.

The push for blanket federal preemption of state AI laws has been fueled largely by AI investors, conservative policy shops, and tech industry trade groups. These groups have argued that a patchwork approach to regulating AI could hinder the AI ​​boom in Silicon Valley and reduce America’s competitiveness on the global stage. David Sachs, a White House AI and cryptocurrency adviser, has been one of the most vocal proponents of a lightweight approach to AI regulation.

“The EO gives your administration the tools to roll back the most burdensome and excessive government regulations,” Sachs told Trump during the signing ceremony on Thursday. “We will not back down from all of these things. For example, we will protect the safety of children.”

The arrangement is similar in many ways to an earlier draft obtained by WIRED but with some key differences. The executive order tasks Sachs and Michael Kratsios, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, with preparing a legislative recommendation to create a federal policy framework for artificial intelligence. One new addition is a carve-out within this legislative recommendation that asks Congress not to preempt state AI laws intended to protect children, enhance data center infrastructure, and encourage state governments to purchase AI tools.

“We want one central source of approval, and we have a lot of Republican support,” Trump said during the signing ceremony on Thursday. “I think we probably have the support of Democrats, too, because that makes sense.” “Every time you make a change, and it might be a very reasonable change, you’re not going to get it approved if you have to go to 50 states. That centralizes it.”

In the absence of federal regulations, officials from states across the country have conducted their own investigations and legislation to regulate the use and development of artificial intelligence. Trump’s executive order specifically describes some state AI laws — such as Colorado’s SB24-205, which aims to limit “algorithmic discrimination” in AI models — as an attempt to “entrench ideological bias.”

Several other state AI laws may also fall within the crosshairs of this executive order. California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law in September requiring major tech companies to publish safety frameworks around their AI models. In June, the New York legislature passed a bill that would enable the state’s attorney general to impose civil penalties of up to $30 million against AI developers who fail to meet safety standards. That bill currently sits on New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s desk, awaiting her signature or veto — though she is considering amendments that could significantly weaken the bill.