The Trump administration is considering an executive order that would seek to prevent individual states from enacting their own AI regulations, aiming instead to establish a single federal framework governing the technology.
A draft version of the order made public by media outlets, titled “Eliminating State Law Obstruction of National AI Policy,” would direct the US attorney general to form an AI Litigation Task Force designed to challenge state-level AI statutes.
According to the draft, the administration would argue that emerging state laws interfere with interstate commerce and should be preempted by federal authority.
California and Colorado are cited in the document as examples of what the administration describes as a growing “patchwork regulatory framework” that could complicate national AI policy by forcing companies to comply with the strictest state requirements.
Under the proposal, the federal government could also tie state eligibility for certain funding, including the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program, to compliance with federal AI directives.
President Donald Trump has publicly backed congressional efforts to curb individual states’ ability to regulate AI, promoting what he calls a “minimally burdensome national standard” rather than a system of different rules across all 50 states. But the move is already prompting controversy, with digital rights advocates arguing that a president cannot unilaterally override state laws through executive action and that any form of broad preemption must come from Congress.
The push for federal preemption is unfolding in parallel with a broader effort by the White House and allied lawmakers to block new state AI measures through legislation. White House AI czar David Sacks and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise are spearheading an initiative to insert language into the annual defense bill that would override certain state AI laws, according to people familiar with the discussions.