Trump to ban states from restricting AI

President Donald Trump announced Monday that he plans to sign an executive order authorizing only one “rule” to regulate artificial intelligence in the United States.

“There has to be just one rulebook if we want to continue to lead in AI. We’re beating EVERY COUNTRY at this point in the race, but that won’t last long if we want to have 50 states, many of them bad actors, involved in the RULES and APPROVAL PROCESS,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social article.

Several states, including California and New York, have passed statewide legislation this year regulating various aspects of AI, including transparency, whistleblower protections, and user and adolescent safety. Trump did not specify which states he considered bad actors in the regulatory process, or what qualified them as bad actors.

A version of an executive order that leaked online last week would have ordered leaders of federal agencies and cabinets to determine how to punish states with existing AI laws, according to The Verge.

Earlier this year, Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act attempted to ban state regulation of AI for 10 years, a provision that Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green notably rejected. The moratorium was very unpopular among registered voters, according to a poll taken in mid-May. The measure was ultimately rejected by a 99-1 vote in the Senate. Some MAGA supporters, including Trump ally Steve Bannon, continue to oppose industry-led regulation of AI.

Yet proponents of a regulatory ban still want to give AI companies carte blanche to innovate without having to tackle state-by-state regulations. David Sacks, a tech venture capitalist and special advisor to the Trump administration on AI and cryptography, is believed to be behind the executive order, according to The Verge.

It’s unclear how Trump’s executive order would affect congressional legislation, such as the bipartisan bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Josh Hawley and Democratic Sen. Mark Hawley that would require federal agencies and large U.S. companies to report on AI-related workforce reductions.

A report released last week by the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit technology research organization, found that only three of eight major AI models earned a passing grade on safety.