Trump Signs Executive Order to Preempt State AI Laws

The article reports that President Trump issued an executive order on Dec. 11, 2025, with a title about ensuring a national AI policy framework. The order is meant to override state-level regulation of AI technology.

Several states have proposed or passed AI legislation, and California adopted major rules in September and October, SB 53 among them. A proposed pause on state AI regulation had earlier failed in Congress. The article also notes that the order presents itself as building on Executive Order 14179 from Jan. 23, which called for revoking Biden-era AI rules that conflicted with sustaining American AI dominance.

Setting aside general provisions, the order has eight sections. The first two describe a patchwork of state rules as a burden on innovation and call for a minimally burdensome national framework, to be pursued with Congress. The third tells the attorney general to set up an AI Litigation Task Force that challenges state laws, including those said to be preempted by federal rules or to improperly regulate interstate commerce. The fourth has the commerce secretary assess state laws that burden innovation, including ones that force changes to truthful model outputs or compel disclosures that may violate the First Amendment.

The fifth section tells the commerce secretary to issue a policy notice under which states with burdensome AI laws would lose eligibility for a federal broadband funding program, and asks agencies to consider conditioning discretionary grants. The sixth asks the Federal Communications Commission chair to consider a preemptive federal reporting and disclosure standard. The seventh points the Federal Trade Commission chair toward state laws requiring alterations to truthful outputs. The eighth requests a legislative recommendation for a preemptive federal framework, while excluding child safety, data center infrastructure and state government procurement.