President Donald Trump has issued an executive order that seeks to create a “national framework” for AI by making it difficult for states to regulate the technology.

The order blocks federal broadband funding from states that enforce “onerous” AI laws, creates an AI Litigation Task Force at the Department of Justice to challenge them and orders the secretary of Commerce to review whether they should be challenged on constitutional grounds or whether they require AI models to “alter truthful outputs.”

“United States AI companies must be free to innovate without cumbersome regulation.  But excessive State regulation thwarts this imperative,” the order says. “My Administration must act with the Congress to ensure that there is a minimally burdensome national standard — not 50 discordant State ones.” 

The order, signed Thursday, argues that state regulation of AI creates a “patchwork”that will slow down businesses tasked with complying with the laws. It also says that many state laws require businesses to “embed ideological bias within models,” citing a new Colorado law barring algorithmic discrimination. 

State laws also create obstacles to interstate commerce, the order says.

David Sacks, the White House’s cryptocurrency and AI czar, said on social media Thursday that the order does not mean all state laws will be challenged by the administration.

“The focus is on excessive and onerous State laws,” Sacks said.

On December 8, the president posted on social media that American AI dominance will disappear “if we are going to have 50 states, many of them bad actors, involved in RULES and the APPROVAL PROCESS.” He went on to say that disparate state regulations will cause AI innovation to be “destroyed in its infancy.”

The order has prompted an intense backlash from privacy advocates, civil libertarians and others concerned by the impact still nascent AI technology unchecked by regulation could have on society.

Advocates say the executive order will chill states from holding AI systems accountable and will create an environment where states have no recourse for addressing documented harms.

The order is “exactly the opposite of what our country needs right now, given the significant risks and challenges posed by the deployment of artificial intelligence systems,” Alan Butler, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), said in a statement.

President Donald Trump has issued an executive order that seeks to create a “national framework” for AI by making it difficult for states to regulate the technology.

The order blocks federal broadband funding from states that enforce “onerous” AI laws, creates an AI Litigation Task Force at the Department of Justice to challenge them and orders the secretary of Commerce to review whether they should be challenged on constitutional grounds or whether they require AI models to “alter truthful outputs.”

“United States AI companies must be free to innovate without cumbersome regulation.  But excessive State regulation thwarts this imperative,” the order says. “My Administration must act with the Congress to ensure that there is a minimally burdensome national standard — not 50 discordant State ones.” 

The order, signed Thursday, argues that state regulation of AI creates a “patchwork”that will slow down businesses tasked with complying with the laws. It also says that many state laws require businesses to “embed ideological bias within models,” citing a new Colorado law barring algorithmic discrimination. 

State laws also create obstacles to interstate commerce, the order says.

David Sacks, the White House’s cryptocurrency and AI czar, said on social media Thursday that the order does not mean all state laws will be challenged by the administration.

“The focus is on excessive and onerous State laws,” Sacks said.

On December 8, the president posted on social media that American AI dominance will disappear “if we are going to have 50 states, many of them bad actors, involved in RULES and the APPROVAL PROCESS.” He went on to say that disparate state regulations will cause AI innovation to be “destroyed in its infancy.”

The order has prompted an intense backlash from privacy advocates, civil libertarians and others concerned by the impact still nascent AI technology unchecked by regulation could have on society.

Advocates say the executive order will chill states from holding AI systems accountable and will create an environment where states have no recourse for addressing documented harms.

The order is “exactly the opposite of what our country needs right now, given the significant risks and challenges posed by the deployment of artificial intelligence systems,” Alan Butler, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), said in a statement.

John Davisson, the director of litigation at EPIC, noted on social media that the order “does not contain any specific AI policy positions or identify any legal authority that would allow the Executive to preempt state laws.”