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President Donald Trump signed a highly anticipated executive order on Thursday that sets in motion a plan to establish a national regulatory framework for artificial intelligence while undercutting states\u2019 abilities to enact their own rules.<\/p>\n
The order, titled \u201cEnsuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence,\u201d creates an AI litigation task force within the Justice Department to directly challenge state AI laws the administration finds to conflict with federal policy. It also directs the Department of Commerce to craft guidelines that could make states ineligible for future broadband funding if they pass \u201conerous\u201d AI laws.<\/p>\n
The push for sweeping federal preemption of state AI laws has largely been fueled by AI investors, conservative policy shops, and tech industry trade groups. These groups have argued that a patchwork approach to AI regulation could stunt Silicon Valley\u2019s AI boom and reduce America\u2019s competitiveness on the global stage. White House AI and crypto adviser David Sacks has been one of the most vocal proponents of a light-touch approach to AI regulation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe EO gives your administration tools to push back on the most onerous and excessive state regulations,\u201d Sacks told Trump during Thursday\u2019s signing ceremony. \u201cWe're not going to push back on all of them. For example, kids safety we're going to protect.\u201d<\/p>\n
The order is similar in many respects to an earlier draft obtained by WIRED but with a few key differences. The executive order instructs Sacks and Michael Kratsios, the assistant to the president for science and technology, to prepare a legislative recommendation establishing a federal policy framework for AI. One of the new additions is a carve-out within this legislative recommendation asking Congress not to preempt state AI laws that aim to protect children, promote data center infrastructure, and encourage state governments to procure AI tools.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want one central source of approval, and we have great Republican support. I think we probably have Democrat support too, because it\u2019s common sense,\u201d Trump said during Thursday\u2019s signing ceremony. \u201cEvery time you make a change, and it could be a very reasonable change, you still won\u2019t get it approved if you have to go to 50 states. This centralizes it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the absence of federal regulations, officials from states across the country have pushed through their own investigations and legislation to govern the use and development of AI. Trump\u2019s executive order specifically calls out certain state AI laws\u2014such as Colorado\u2019s SB24-205, which aims to limit \u201calgorithmic discrimination\u201d in AI models\u2014as an attempt to \u201cembed ideological bias.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several other state AI laws may also fall in the crosshairs of this executive order. California governor Gavin Newsom signed a law in September requiring large tech companies to publish safety frameworks around their AI models. In June, New York\u2019s legislature passed a bill that would empower the state\u2019s attorney general to bring civil penalties of up to $30 million against AI developers that fail to meet safety standards. That bill is currently sitting on New York governor Kathy Hochul\u2019s desk, awaiting her signature or veto\u2014though she\u2019s reportedly considering amendments that could weaken the bill significantly.<\/p>\n
Shortly before the order was signed on Thursday, several state attorneys general were quick to criticize the Trump administration\u2019s attempt to curb state power.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow is not the time to let this new technology progress unchecked. AI development and deployment are happening quickly, and state attorneys general are the most agile regulators we have historically,\u201d New York attorney general Letitia James said in a briefing with reporters on Thursday. \u201cIt has always been collaboration, not conflict, between state legislatures and Congress that yielded some of the most critical federal legislation in our country\u2019s history.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the order may set a national tone for AI regulation, Trump does not have the authority to bar states from continuing to pass their own laws. Civil rights groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have called the order \u201cunconstitutional,\u201d and it\u2019s likely to be challenged in court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Save StorySave this storySave StorySave this story President Donald Trump signed a highly anticipated executive order on Thursday that sets in motion a plan to establish a national regulatory framework for artificial intelligence while undercutting states\u2019 abilities to enact their own rules. The order, titled \u201cEnsuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence,\u201d creates an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40605,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-40604","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agooka.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}