Trump signs order to block states from regulating AI

President Trump on Thursday directed his administration to block states from regulating artificial intelligence and to create federal guidelines that would dictate the nation’s artificial intelligence policy.

Mr. Trump’s order establishes an AI Litigation Task Force that would challenge state AI laws and preempt them with Mr. Trump’s federal policy. Under the order, Attorney General Pam Bondi will establish the task force, whose sole responsibility would be to challenge state AI laws in court.

Those challenges would be issued “on grounds that such laws unconstitutionally regulate interstate commerce, are preempted by existing Federal regulations or otherwise unlawful in the Attorney General’s judgment,” the order says.

The order also directs Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to notify states with challenged AI laws that they will be ineligible for funds under the federal Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program.

The $42 billion program allocates federal technology funds to all U.S. states and territories.

“You have to have a central source of approval. When [AI companies] need approval for things they can’t go to California, New York and various other places,” Mr. Trump said during a signing ceremony in the Oval Office.

“There’s only going to be one winner here, the U.S. or China. Right now we are winning by a lot. China has a central source of approval,” Mr. Trump said. “But if [AI companies] had to get 50 different approvals from 50 different states, you can forget it. All you need is one hostile actor and you wouldn’t be able to do it.”

White House AI Czar David Saks said there are more than one thousand bills in state legislatures across the country to regulate artificial intelligence. He said so many different regulations create economic uncertainty.

“You’ve got 50 states running in 50 different directions. It just doesn’t make sense. We are creating a confusing patchwork of regulation when we need one federal standard,” he said.

Mr. Saks said the bill gives the Trump administration the tools to eliminate “onerous” AI regulation, but won’t impact laws regulating safety such as state legislation aimed at protecting children.

Democrats blasted the initiative saying it just creates a massive windfall for tech tycoons while loosening AI safeguards to protect children and jobs.

“Trump isn’t just ignoring potential dangers from out-of-control AI development; he’s throwing the door wide open for them. That’s why we need more members of Congress who will install necessary guardrails before it’s too late,” said Alex Bores, a Democrat with a computer science degree who is running for Congress in New York’s 12th District.

Mr. Saks said the Trump administration will work with Congress to develop the federal guidelines. Some Republican members of Congress said they were receptive to the idea.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana told reporters earlier in the week that the expected Trump executive order was “an important step” but he would still continue his work to codify the state AI regulation ban after an effort to include it in the annual defense bill failed.

“China is moving very aggressively, and there are some states like California that want to undermine our ability to be dominant in technology,” he said. “The president saying we’re not going to limit our ability in America to innovate is going to allow billions more investment.”

In the absence of overarching federal regulation, some states have passed laws to address the risky and potentially harmful uses of AI, such as the creation of misleading deepfakes and algorithmic discrimination in hiring.

Critics have raised concerns that if AI remains unchecked, tech companies could evade accountability if their products harm consumers.

In July, Congress blocked an attempt by Republicans to prevent states from regulating AI.

The Senate voted overwhelmingly to remove a 10-year moratorium on the enforcement of state artificial intelligence regulations from Mr. Trump’s tax, immigration and health care law known as the Big Beautiful Bill.

Earlier this summer, the Trump administration released a Silicon Valley-friendly AI action plan, which includes a stash of industry-backed recommendations, such as scaling back some AI regulations, which the White House says will increase competitiveness.

However, some have been critical of Mr. Trump’s plan for more lax AI regulation.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, last month blasted Mr. Trump’s AI recommendations as “federal government overreach.”

“Stripping states of jurisdiction to regulate AI is a subsidy to Big Tech and will prevent states from protecting against online censorship of political speech, predatory applications that target children, violations of intellectual property rights and data center intrusions on power/water resources,” he said.

Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts called out Republicans for “trying to sneak their AI regulation moratorium into the defense bill” and accused Mr. Trump of siding “with his billionaire Big Tech buddies” in an X post.

• Lindsey McPherson contributed to this report.