The Trump administration has focused on state-level AI regulation, with the president announcing in a social media message this week that the sector requires “one Federal Standard instead of a collection of 50 State Regulatory Regimes.”
This follows a 10-year prohibition on state AI regulation that was first present in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” before being eliminated by the Senate in a 99-1 vote.
The concept then apparently took a different shape, with the administration said to be preparing an executive order that would create an AI Litigation Task Force tasked with contesting state AI legislation via legal action. States with challenged AI laws would also reportedly face the possibility of losing federal broadband funds.
Now, Reuters indicates that the executive order has been suspended. If signed, the order would likely encounter considerable resistance, including from Republicans who had previously denounced the proposed suspension of state regulation.
AI regulation has also been a contentious issue in Silicon Valley, with some industry leaders — particularly those in the Trump administration — criticizing firms such as Anthropic for backing AI safety measures such as California’s SB 53.
