Donald Trump has signed an executive order seeking to prevent states from regulating artificial intelligence, creating a federal taskforce with the sole responsibility of challenging state laws.
At a ceremony on Thursday, the president said AI companies were eager to invest in the United States but warned that “if they had to get 50 different approvals from 50 different states, you could forget it”.
The order, titled Ensuring a national policy framework for artificial intelligence, revives an earlier attempt by Republicans to impose a ten-year moratorium on state regulation of AI. That effort collapsed earlier this year after bipartisan opposition in the Senate, which voted 99-1 to remove the measure from Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Unlike legislation, the order does not carry the force of law.
The move is seen as a victory for Silicon Valley firms that have lobbied against state-level regulation, arguing that a patchwork of laws would burden the industry. However, neither the administration nor AI companies have offered comprehensive proposals to address concerns over the social, environmental and political risks posed by the technology.
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Among its provisions, the order instructs the Department of Justice to establish an “AI Litigation Task Force” to challenge state laws and review existing measures that could “require AI models to alter their truthful outputs”. Likely targets include California, which obliges companies to disclose safety testing of new models, and Colorado, which requires employers to assess risks of algorithmic discrimination in hiring.
The order has drawn criticism from state leaders and civil liberties groups, who argue it will concentrate power in the hands of large technology companies and expose vulnerable communities to harms such as 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, vice-president of Economic Security California Action.
Trump has framed the issue as essential to ensuring US leadership in AI and preventing what he described as “woke” ideology from influencing generative models. Speaking at the US-Saudi Investment Forum last month, he said: “You can’t go through 50 states. You have to get one approval. Fifty is a disaster. You’ll have one woke state and you’ll have to do all woke.”
Earlier this week, he repeated the message on Truth Social, warning that “AI will be destroyed in its infancy” if states were allowed to impose rules.
The administration has pledged to make the United States the global leader in artificial intelligence, part of an intensifying race with China. Critics say the White House has ignored warnings about environmental costs, economic risks and the potential for misinformation.
JD Vance, speaking at an AI summit in February, dismissed safety concerns, saying: “The AI future is not going to be won by hand-wringing about safety.”
The order also gives a prominent role to David Sacks, a billionaire venture capitalist and close ally of Trump, who serves as special adviser for AI and crypto. Sacks will consult with the litigation taskforce on which state laws to challenge.
Sacha Haworth, executive director of the Tech Oversight Project, condemned the order as “bad policy”. “The Trump-Sacks executive order proves that the White House only listens to powerful big tech CEOs rather than the everyday people they pretend to serve,” she said. “The AI EO will go down as an unmitigated disaster that puts the Trump administration at odds with over two-thirds of Americans, and his AI-sceptic Maga base.”
