Overview
- President Trump signed an executive order directing the Justice Department to create an AI Litigation Task Force to challenge state laws viewed as restricting innovation.
- The order signals that federal agencies could withhold certain funds from states that enact stringent AI regulations, while urging Congress to pass a minimally burdensome national standard.
- Democrats, labor leaders, civil-society and child-safety groups condemned the move as unlawful and a giveaway to tech interests, and several state officials said they are preparing legal challenges.
- Republicans are divided, with figures like Ron DeSantis and Steve Bannon criticizing preemption of state authority as others stay quiet; Sen. Marsha Blackburn backed pursuing a single federal framework.
- California’s new transparency and child-protection measures and other state laws could be targeted under the policy, even as local fights continue, such as an Arizona city’s rejection of a proposed data center.