President Donald Trump signed an executive order blocking states from enforcing their own rules related to artificial intelligence. “We want to have one central source of approval,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday. White House AI adviser David Sacks said this will give the Trump administration tools to push back on the most “onerous” state rules. He added that the government will not oppose AI regulations around children’s safety.
This comes as a victory for big tech companies which have cultivated a close relationship with the White House, and would likely be disapproved of by both Democratic and Republican state leaders who have said they need the ability to protect state residents.
Trump had earlier posted on Truth Social saying that there should only be “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,” he had said.
READ: Trump to sign executive order blocking state AI regulations (
AI companies have argued that state-level regulations could slow innovation and hinder the U.S. in its race against China to dominate the industry, with firms pouring billions of dollars into the technology.
This move has come with significant opposition. California Governor Gavin Newsom, a longstanding critic of Trump, accused the president of corruption and criticized the order in a strongly-worded statement. “Today, President Trump continued his ongoing grift in the White House, attempting to enrich himself and his associates, with a new executive order seeking to preempt state laws protecting Americans from unregulated AI technology.”
Earlier this year, Newsom signed a bill requiring the largest AI developers to lay out plans to limit risks stemming from their AI models. Other states which passed laws regulating the technology include Colorado and New York.
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Other critics of the executive order argue that state laws are essential in the absence of federal level guardrails against AI risks. “Stripping states from enacting their own AI safeguards undermines states’ basic rights to establish sufficient guardrails to protect their residents,” said Julie Scelfo, from advocacy group Mothers Against Media Addiction in a statement.
Others have come out in support of the order. “It would be better to have one federal law than a bunch of conflicting state laws. However, that assumes that we will have a good federal law in place,” Michael Goodyear, an associate professor at New York Law School said.
The tech lobby group NetChoice celebrated the executive order on Thursday. “We look forward to working with the White House and Congress to set nationwide standards and a clear rulebook for innovators,” said its director of policy Patrick Hedger.