President Trump signed an order on December 11, bolstering the nation’s artificial intelligence development.
“My Administration must act with the Congress to ensure that there is a minimally burdensome national standard — not 50 discordant State ones,” the order explains. “The resulting framework must forbid State laws that conflict with the policy set forth in this order. That framework should also ensure that children are protected, censorship is prevented, copyrights are respected, and communities are safeguarded. A carefully crafted national framework can ensure that the United States wins the AI race, as we must.”
According to the order, some state laws “may even force AI models to produce false results in order to avoid a ‘differential treatment or impact’ on protected groups,” while other laws “sometimes impermissibly regulate beyond State borders, impinging on interstate commerce.”
The order directs the attorney general to establish an AI Litigation Task Force to challenge state AI laws conflicting with the executive order. The Trump administration will also evaluate state laws. “That evaluation of State AI laws shall, at a minimum, identify laws that require AI models to alter their truthful outputs, or that may compel AI developers or deployers to disclose or report information in a manner that would violate the First Amendment or any other provision of the Constitution,” it explains.
President Trump alluded to the order earlier this week, writing on Truth Social, “There must be only One Rulebook if we are going to continue to lead in AI.”
“We are beating ALL COUNTRIES at this point in the race, but that won’t last long if we are going to have 50 States, many of them bad actors, involved in RULES and the APPROVAL PROCESS,” he wrote. “THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT ABOUT THIS! AI WILL BE DESTROYED IN ITS INFANCY! I will be doing a ONE RULE Executive Order this week. You can’t expect a company to get 50 Approvals every time they want to do something. THAT WILL NEVER WORK!”
