Trump signs executive order blocking states from enforcing their own regulations around AI

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order that blocks states from enforcing their own regulations around artificial intelligence and instead aims to create a “single national framework” for AI.

“This is an executive order that orders aspects of your administration to take decisive action to ensure that AI can operate within a single national framework in this country, as opposed to being subject to state level regulation that could potentially cripple the industry,” White House aide Will Scharf said of the executive order in the Oval Office.

The order could have far-reaching effects on US efforts to dominate the nascent technology, which has already become a significant part of the economy and the stock market but which also still remains untested in many ways.

David Sacks, the White House crypto and AI czar, said during the signing ceremony that the executive order would have the administration create a “federal framework” on AI in conjunction with Congress.

“In the meantime, this EO gives your administration tools to push back on the most onerous and excessive state regulations,” Sacks said. Notably, Sacks emphasized that the administration will not push back on state-level regulation around child safety and AI. He later wrote in a social media post that the EO “does not mean the Administration will challenge every State AI law.”

Congress killed an earlier attempt by Republicans to prevent states from regulating AI in July. The US Senate voted nearly unanimously to remove a 10-year moratorium on the enforcement of state artificial intelligence regulations from Trump’s sweeping domestic policy bill before the bill passed.

Lawmakers also declined to add an AI moratorium to the National Defense Authorization Act, despite Trump’s suggestion that they do so.

Leaders in Silicon Valley, such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, have argued that navigating a patchwork of state regulations could slow down innovation and affect America’s competitiveness in the global AI race with China, which they say will have implications for the economy and national security.

Critics worry the deregulation push could allow AI companies to evade accountability should their tools harm consumers.

Artificial intelligence is already subject to little overall oversight as it extends into more areas of American life – from personal communications and relationships to health care and policing.

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

But the debate over how to regulate AI has caused schisms not only in the industry but also within the conservative movement and Republican party.

On one side are figures in the administration like Sacks and Vice President JD Vance, who push for a lighter touch regulatory framework. On the other are figures such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who have been vocal about suppoting state-level regulation, arguing those guardrails are needed for the fast-moving technology.

Brad Carson, president of Americans for Responsible Innovation and a leader of the pro-AI regulation super PAC Public First, said in a statement that the executive order will “hit a brick wall in the courts.”

Carson added that the order “directly attacks the state-passed safeguards that we’ve seen vocal public support for over the past year, all without any replacement at the federal level.”

In contrast, Collin McCune, head of government affairs at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, called the order an “incredibly important first step” but called on Congress to fill the regulatory vacuum.

“States have an important role in addressing harms and protecting people, but they can’t provide the long-term clarity or national direction that only Congress can deliver,” he wrote on X