President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order calling for a national policy framework on AI regulation, curbing states from pushing “onerous” laws.
The Trump administration seeks to have America dominate in this “new frontier” of technology. The executive order would protect American innovation while seeking to prevent a costly regulatory regime from various states by:
- Ordering the attorney general to establish an AI Litigation Task Force to challenge “unconstitutional, preempted, or otherwise unlawful State AI laws that harm innovation”
- Directing the Commerce secretary to evaluate state-based AI regulation that conflicts with the national AI framework and withhold non-deployment Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD) funding from any state with onerous state AI rules
- Instructing the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take actions that would hamper states’ ability to force AI companies to embed diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and other models that would violate the Federal Trade Commission Act
- Calls for the development of a national AI legislative framework to preempt state AI laws that curb AI innovation
A White House press release noted that state legislatures have introduced over 1,000 different AI regulatory bills, which would create a “patchwork” of rules and other requirements. It also argues that left-leaning states such as California and Colorado are pushing AI companies to censor certain output and insert “left-wing ideology” in their models.
“The most restrictive States should not be allowed to dictate national AI policy at the expense of America’s domination of this new frontier,” the White House press release stated.
Trump wrote on Truth Social:
There must be only One Rulebook if we are going to continue to lead in AI. We are beating ALL COUNTRIES at this point in the race, but that won’t last long if we are going to have 50 States, many of them bad actors, involved in RULES and the APPROVAL PROCESS. THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT ABOUT THIS! AI WILL BE DESTROYED IN ITS INFANCY! I will be doing a ONE RULE Executive Order this week. You can’t expect a company to get 50 Approvals every time they want to do something. THAT WILL NEVER WORK!
Wes Hodges, the acting director for the Center for Technology and the Human Person at the Heritage Foundation, urged Trump to establish a national framework, saying, “Doing so before establishing commensurate national protections is a carve-out for Big Tech.”
Sarah Gardner, the chief of the Heat Initiative, a child safety group, argued that barring state regulation would make it harder to ensure child safety.
“Blocking state laws regulating A.I. is an unacceptable nightmare for parents and anyone who cares about protecting children online. States have been the only effective line of defense against A.I. harms,” Gadner argued.
Build American AI (BAAI), a group dedicated to advocating for pro-innovation policies, cheered the president’s executive order.
Nathan Leamer, executive director of Build American AI, said in a written statement, “The Executive Order makes it clear that creating a coherent AI national framework is a top priority. Instead of 50 competing rulebooks, the Administration is laying out a clear federal policy roadmap that will accelerate deployment, and provide the clarity that entrepreneurs, and consumers have been asking for.”
“This balanced approach sets forth a clear national AI standard while also enabling states to protect their consumers and address localized concerns without hindering innovation across the country,” Leamer added.
Marc Andreessen, of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, wrote, “A 50-state patchwork is a startup killer.”
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