President Trump has picked a fight with allied MAGA conservatives on Capitol Hill by issuing an executive order to chill state efforts to regulate AI, a proposal similar to one that conservative critics of Big Tech defeated on Capitol Hill earlier this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump is trying to avoid an open fight with Republicans who want to rein in the titans of AI by reaching out to GOP lawmakers to make the argument that state regulation of the industry could cripple its growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Republicans who warn that unregulated AI poses a serious threat to intellectual property, American jobs and children\u2019s safety aren\u2019t happy the president did an end-run around Congress \u2014 even if they\u2019re holding back from criticizing the president directly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re all pretty much federalists; we believe in state rights. So, you want to make sure the states have authority to be able to regulate within their borders but \u2026 when you have interstate commerce with something like AI \u2026 you kind of need some sort of a federal framework, and I think that\u2019s what the president and his team were recognizing,\u201d Senate Majority Leader John Thune\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R-S.D.) told reporters Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thune said he spoke with Trump and Republican colleagues on Capitol Hill who were \u201cthe strongest opponents\u201d of intervening in state regulation of AI and \u201cgot them in a place where they\u2019re comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI will continue to have some of those conversations, I\u2019m sure, with my colleagues,\u201d Thune added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump told reporters in the Oval Office last week that he expects AI companies to invest trillions of dollars into the U.S. economy but warned that future growth could be severely limited if the industry has to grapple with a patchwork of state regulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have the big investment coming, but if they had to get 50 different approvals from 50 different states, you can forget it because it\u2019s impossible to do,\u201d the president warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His order gives Attorney General Pam Bondi\u2002<\/u><\/a>broad power to sue states to overturn state-level laws that are \u201cinconsistent\u201d with the Trump administration\u2019s policy to give AI free rein to develop and innovate and achieve U.S. \u201cglobal AI dominance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The president gave his order teeth by including language that threatens to restrict states\u2019 access to federal broadband funding if they enact what the administration determines to be \u201conerous AI laws.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a bid to appease conservative critics of big AI companies, Trump\u2019s top AI adviser David Sacks\u2002<\/u><\/a>has emphasized the administration won\u2019t push back on state laws aimed at promoting the safety of children and adolescents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cKid safety, we\u2019re going to protect. We\u2019re not pushing back on that,\u201d Sacks pledged last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sen. Marsha Blackburn\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R-Tenn.), an outspoken critic of what she sees as the threat AI poses to children, plans to make sure Trump\u2019s executive order is implemented in a way to protect kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSen. Blackburn is leading the work on a federal framework that codifies the president\u2019s executive order to protect children, creators, consumers, and conservatives without stifling AI innovation,\u201d a spokesperson for Blackburn said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump signed his executive order to upend states\u2019 efforts to regulate AI after House Republicans failed to add a similar provision in the annual defense authorization bill that would have preempted state regulation of the industry; House GOP efforts to add a state AI regulation moratorium to the National Defense Authorization Act failed after Republican lawmakers balked at the provision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thune admitted earlier this month that the issue deeply divides Republicans in Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s controversial,\u201d he said when some Republicans were trying to include a moratorium on state regulation in the defense bill. \u201cThe White House is working with senators and House members, for that matter, to try and come up with something that works but preserves states\u2019 rights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n An effort to add a similar provision on state regulation of AI to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Republicans passed under the budget reconciliation process this summer, also failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene\u2002<\/u><\/a>(R-Ga.), who had been one of Trump\u2019s biggest supporters in the House until they had a falling out over legislation to force the Justice Department to publicize all records related to Jeffrey Epstein,<\/u><\/a> has been a vocal critic of restricting state regulation of AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Greene threatened to vote against the reconciliation package enacting much of Trump\u2019s legislative agenda if it included a 10-year moratorium on state-based AI regulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI will NOT vote for any bill that destroys states\u2019 rights and lets AI run wild for the next 10 years. AI will replace jobs, especially in the press. This is not a left or right issue. It\u2019s about humanity. I\u2019ll go to the mat on this. If you kill federalism, I\u2019m out,\u201d she wrote on the social platform X in June. <\/p>\n\n\n\n