According to CNET, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on Monday that he plans to issue an executive order this week to create a single set of national rules for AI. The goal is to preempt the patchwork of state regulations, freeing companies like Google, Meta, and OpenAI from having to navigate different laws in all 50 states. The post did not detail the specific regulations but argued that overbearing rules would hinder the industry’s growth against international competition. This follows Congress deciding earlier this month, for the second time, not to pass legislation that would block states from regulating AI. Currently, Congress has passed no national AI legislation, while states have enacted laws targeting issues like non-consensual AI-generated sexual imagery and AI use in health insurance denials.
The Coming Legal Brawl
Here’s the thing: this is almost certainly going to spark a massive legal fight. Travis Hall from the Center for Democracy & Technology isn’t mincing words, saying “The power to preempt rests firmly with Congress, and no executive order can change that.” He’s got a point. The executive branch can direct federal agencies on how to use their authority, but outright nullifying existing state laws? That’s shaky constitutional ground. You’ve already got 35 states and D.C. telling Congress to back off, and they just won that fight. Now the White House is trying an end-run around them. I think we’re looking at immediate lawsuits from state attorneys general the moment this order is signed.
Why Companies Want One Rulebook
Look, from a pure business logistics standpoint, you can see why Big Tech is lobbying for this. It’s a nightmare to comply with 50 different sets of rules, especially for something as pervasive as AI. A company operating nationwide has to worry about a law in Florida about deepfake nudes, another in Arizona governing AI in health insurance, and who knows what’s next in California or New York. The argument is that this fragmentation stifles innovation. But is the answer really no guardrails at all? That’s the core tension. The industry wants predictability, but critics see federal preemption as a way to lock in the weakest possible standards.
States Aren’t Backing Down
So what happens next? The states that have been active on this front aren’t likely to just stand down. They’re responding to “real and documented harms,” as Hall put it. Congress has shown, twice now, that it’s either unable or unwilling to pass comprehensive AI legislation. In that vacuum, states have become the laboratories of democracy, actually getting laws on the books. This executive order feels like a political gambit that kicks the can to the courts. Basically, we’re swapping a legislative stalemate for a judicial one. And while that plays out, companies are stuck in an even murkier limbo—facing a theoretical federal standard that’s being challenged and a bunch of active state laws that may or may not be enforceable.
The Broader Trajectory
This sets a wild precedent. It’s a power struggle over who gets to control the rules for the 21st century’s most disruptive technology. The executive order, if it survives, would centralize that power in Washington. But the fierce resistance from states suggests a messy, protracted battle ahead. It also puts companies in a tough spot: do they align with a federal standard that might get struck down, or continue preparing for a state-by-state world? One prediction is easy: the only guaranteed growth industry here is for lawyers specializing in constitutional and tech law. The fight over AI regulation just entered a much more chaotic phase.
