Trump Could Sign Executive Order To Regulate AI On Friday – What’s In The Bag?

• President Donald Trump could sign an executive order as early as Friday that would give the federal government powers to tweak state laws governing the artificial intelligence (AI) sector.
• The potential move follows the Senate voting to remove a moratorium on state AI laws from Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” in July.
• In recent months, Trump has repeatedly said a “patchwork” of 50 state laws might be stifling innovation in AI, potentially giving China an opportunity to surpass the U.S. in the frontier technology.

President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Friday that would set federal laws for the artificial intelligence sector through the mechanism of amending state laws seen as challenging AI progress, according to reports from The Verge and Reuters on Wednesday.

According to the draft order document, posted by The Verge, the government plans to create an “AI Litigation Task Force” overseen by Attorney General Pam Bondi, “whose sole responsibility shall be to challenge state AI laws, including on grounds that such laws unconstitutionally regulate interstate commerce, are preempted by existing federal regulations, or are otherwise unlawful."

It would also direct the Department of Commerce to review state laws and issue guidelines that would withhold broadband funding in some cases.

Over the past few months, Trump has repeatedly voiced his preference for a unified framework to regulate the AI sector and has criticized a battery of state rules, including those he believes mandate onerous measures in the name of AI safety and inclusivity.

"We MUST have one Federal Standard instead of a patchwork of 50 State Regulatory Regimes. If we don't, then China will easily catch us in the AI race,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Tuesday. He suggested that the AI regulation could also be written into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) — the annual legislation through which Congress sets policies and authorizes budgets for U.S. national defense.

To be sure, the executive order seems to be the White House’s fallback after the Senate voted overwhelmingly in July to scrap Trump’s proposed 10-year moratorium on state AI laws from his “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

Key Points In Draft Executive Order

• The order sets a 90-day roadmap for the DOJ, the FTC, the Commerce Department, and the FCC to implement the plan.
• Within 90 days, the Commerce Secretary must report which states violate Trump’s AI directives and assess which could lose eligibility for the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment (BEAD), which funds rural broadband projects in states.
• The “AI Taskforce,” in consultation with a group of White House advisors, will have the power to sue states whose laws are deemed to obstruct the growth of the AI industry.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

Read Next: Jack In The Box’s Q4 Shows Business Shrinking, Del Taco Deal Risks; Stock Slides After-Hours

Share

·

Add us on