Trump Signs Order to Override State Rules on AI

President Trump moved Thursday to strip states of much of their power over artificial intelligence, setting up a major legal and political fight over who gets to police the fast-growing technology. In an executive order signed Thursday, Trump gave the attorney general sweeping authority to challenge and overturn state AI laws deemed out of step with what the order calls the goal of maintaining the "United States' global AI dominance," the New York Times reports. The directive also threatens to withhold federal funds for broadband and other projects from states that keep such regulations on the books.

Trump says the move is needed to replace what he calls a confusing "patchwork" of rules with a single federal framework and to ensure the US stays ahead of China in AI. "It's got to be one source," he told reporters Thursday, flanked by AI and crypto adviser David Sacks. In a Truth Social post earlier this week, Trump said that if "50 States, many of them bad actors" could set their own rules, "AI WILL BE DESTROYED IN ITS INFANCY!" Sacks said Thursday that the administration will push back against "onerous" state rules but it won't oppose regulations on child safety, the BBC reports.

The order is a major victory for tech firms that have lobbied intensely against state-level rules and for lighter-touch federal oversight, the Times reports. Companies have bristled at a surge of state laws aimed at AI safety and transparency: all 50 states and territories introduced AI-related bills this year, and 38 enacted about 100 measures, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Those laws include California and Colorado requirements that large AI models be tested and disclose safety results and South Dakota's ban on AI-generated "deepfake" political ads near elections. Utah, Illinois, and Nevada have rules forcing chatbot disclosures and limiting data collection in mental health contexts.

The order has triggered rare bipartisan resistance and is expected to face court challenges from states and consumer advocates, who argue that only Congress can broadly preempt state law. Even some right-leaning policy voices say that if Trump wipes out state rules, he owes the public a strong national standard in return. CNN notes that the Senate killed an earlier attempt to limit states' power to regulate AI. In July, senators voted 99-1 to remove a proposal to ban states from regulating AI from the "Big Beautiful Bill." GOP Sen. Thom Tillis was the only senator to oppose the move.