'There can be only one winner, US or China': Trump signs executive order to override state AI laws

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that sought to halt any state laws limiting or regulating Artificial Intelligence. The order also establishes a federal task force that will have the “sole responsibility” of challenging states’ AI laws.

While speaking at the signing ceremony of the executive order, the president lauded AI companies’ enthusiasm for wanting to “invest” in the United States and said that “if they had to get 50 different approvals from 50 different states, you could forget it."

Interestingly, earlier this year, Republicans failed to pass a similar 10-year moratorium on state laws that regulate the emerging technology as part of Trump’s controversial One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Trump’s order resurrects that effort, which failed after bipartisan pushback and Republican infighting, but as an order that lacks the force of law.

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A win for Silicon Valley

It is pertinent to note that the executive order called “Ensuring a national policy framework for artificial intelligence” is a victory for Silicon Valley and AI companies that have lobbied against the regulation of their technology. These tech giants argued that a hodgepodge of state laws would burden the industry with unnecessary bureaucracy.

The order signed on Thursday includes various mandates which are aimed at preventing the regulation of AI, including instructing the Department of Justice to create an “AI Litigation Task Force” whose sole responsibility is to challenge state laws. The order also called for the review of existing state laws that could “require AI models to alter their truthful outputs”.

Hence, the states that are most likely to be targeted in this case are California, which requires companies to disclose their safety testing for new AI models, and Colorado, which requires employers to conduct risk assessments for algorithmic discrimination in hiring and take precautions against it.

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Because of this reason, Trump’s order has been receiving significant pushback from state leaders across the country and various civil liberties groups. They argue that his order will lead to more power in the hands of Silicon Valley companies and that, in turn, more vulnerable people and children will be exposed to the harms of chatbots, surveillance and algorithmic control.

“Trump’s campaign to threaten, harass and punish states that seek to pass commonsense AI regulations is just another chapter in his playbook to hand over control of one of the most transformative technologies of our time to big tech CEOs,” said Teri Olle, the vice-president of Economic Security California Action, which co-sponsored AI safety legislation in California this year. “This is not about allowing for American innovation.”