Overview
- President Donald Trump’s executive order directs the Justice Department to create an AI Litigation Task Force within 30 days to challenge state regulations that conflict with the administration’s policy.
- The Commerce Department is instructed to identify ‘onerous’ state AI laws and to tie eligibility for programs such as the $42.5 billion BEAD broadband fund to compliance with a federal framework.
- The order signals potential challenges to measures like Colorado’s algorithmic discrimination law and California’s safety-testing disclosures, while carving out areas such as child safety and data center infrastructure.
- State officials and civil-liberties groups from both parties denounced the move as unlawful overreach, arguing an executive order cannot preempt state law and vowing court fights.
- The action revives a preemption push that Congress rejected earlier this year, reflecting tech-industry backing and a White House rationale focused on avoiding a 50-state patchwork and competing with China.