Trump Signs Executive Order to Preempt State AI Laws
Published by The Lawfare Institute
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On Dec. 11, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order entitled “Ensuring A National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence,” aimed at preempting state regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
A number of states have so far proposed or enacted legislation to regulate AI; in September and October, California, home to Silicon Valley, enacted significant AI regulations, including SB 53. A proposal for a moratorium on state regulation of AI recently failed in Congress during debates for the “one big beautiful bill” omnibus package.
Excluding general provisions, the order is divided into eight sections.
Section one recounts how a state-by-state patchwork of AI regulations burdens innovation, characterizing AI regulation as a federal objective that the administration will work with Congress to achieve. It also frames the order as an extension of the Jan. 23 Executive Order 14179, “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence,” which called for revoking Biden-era AI regulations found to conflict with the goal of “sustain[ing] and enhanc[ing] America’s global AI dominance.”
Section two reiterates the goal of sustaining and enhancing AI dominance “through a minimally burdensome national policy framework for AI.”
Section three instructs the attorney general to establish an AI Litigation Task Force responsible for challenging state AI laws that conflict with section two’s goal, including laws that are preempted by existing federal regulations, unconstitutionally regulate interstate commerce, or are otherwise unlawful in the attorney general’s judgment.
Section four directs the secretary of commerce—in consultation with the special advisor for AI and crypto and the assistant to the president for science and technology—to evaluate all existing state AI laws that burden innovation or deviate from the goals of section two. It calls for the secretary of commerce to flag state laws that require AI models to alter truthful outputs or that require disclosures from developers that violate the First Amendment.
Section five, part (a) instructs the secretary of commerce to issue a policy notice making states with onerous AI laws ineligible for funds from the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program. Part (b) directs all executive agencies to review their discretionary grant programs for state grants that can be made conditional on states’ either not enacting their AI laws or not enforcing AI laws already in place.
Section six directs the chair of the Federal Communications Commission and the special advisor for AI and crypto to weigh the merits of adopting a “federal reporting and disclosure standard for AI models” that would preempt conflicting state laws.
Section seven directs the chair of the Federal Trade Commission to target state laws requiring “alterations” of AI models’ “truthful outputs” under the ban on deceptive acts or practices affecting commerce.
Section eight, part (a) calls for the special advisor for AI and crypto and the assistant to the president for science and technology to provide a legislative recommendation on a federal AI policy framework that would preempt state laws. Part (b), however, directs them to refrain from proposing policies preempting state AI laws aimed at child safety, data center infrastructure, state government procurement, and other topics to be determined.
You can read the executive order here or below:
