President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aimed at curbing state level regulation of artificial intelligence, a move that critics say represents a sweeping federal intervention designed to shield powerful technology companies from oversight while undermining states that have moved to address emerging harms linked to the rapidly expanding industry.
The order instructs the U.S. Justice Department to establish an AI Litigation Task Force with a singular mandate: challenge state AI laws that the administration deems “onerous and excessive.” It also directs the Department of Commerce to compile a list of problematic state regulations and threatens to withhold federal funding, including money tied to broadband deployment and other grant programs, from states that implement AI rules the administration opposes.
Trump signed the order after repeated efforts by congressional Republicans to insert a ban on state AI regulations into broader legislation failed to gain enough support in Congress. With the legislative route blocked, the administration moved unilaterally through executive action, escalating a conflict between federal authority and state governments that have taken the lead on AI oversight.
In remarks following the signing, Trump framed the order as necessary to maintain U.S. competitiveness in what he described as a global race for artificial intelligence dominance, particularly against China. He argued that state by state regulation would choke investment and innovation. “We have the big investment coming, but if they had to get 50 different approvals from 50 different states, you can forget it because it’s impossible to do,” the president said.
David Sacks, a venture capitalist who is leading Trump’s policies on cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence, echoed that argument, saying the administration would only push back against “the most onerous examples of state regulation” while allowing measures related to “kid safety.” Earlier this week, Sacks warned on social media that varied state rules would create a regulatory maze. “At best, we’ll end up with 50 different AI models for 50 different states—a regulatory morass worse than Europe,” he wrote, adding that such an outcome would “stymie innovation,” particularly for startups, while “China will race ahead.”
But the executive order immediately drew sharp criticism from lawmakers, consumer advocates, and state leaders who say it amounts to an extraordinary giveaway to an industry that has poured money into Trump’s political efforts while resisting meaningful oversight.
Public Citizen, a watchdog group that has tracked the technology industry’s influence in Washington, said the order “grants his greedy Big Tech buddies’ Christmas wish.” Robert Weissman, the group’s co president, said the action represents a fundamental contradiction of the federalist rhetoric Trump and his allies often embrace. “This reward to Big Tech is a disgraceful invitation to reckless behavior by the world’s largest corporations and a complete override of the federalist principles that Trump and MAGA claim to venerate,” Weissman said.
Weissman pointed to the scale of industry spending as central to understanding the policy shift. “Everyone should understand why this is happening: During and since the last election cycle, Big Tech has spent at least $1.1 billion on campaign contributions and lobby expenditures. Big Tech corporations poured money into Trump’s inaugural committee and to pay for his garish White House ballroom. A major Big Tech and AI investor is serving as Trump’s ‘AI czar’ and driving administration policy,” he said.
According to Public Citizen, the order comes as states have stepped in to address concrete harms already linked to AI systems, while the federal government has largely failed to act. “While Trump has ensured the federal government is doing almost nothing to address the harms that AI is already causing, states are moving forward with sensible AI regulation,” Weissman said. He cited state efforts to curb political deepfakes, nonconsensual intimate deepfakes, algorithmic pricing manipulation, consumer protection violations, and the heavy electricity and water demands of large data centers.
Several states have already enacted broad AI laws. According to the International Association of Privacy Professionals, Colorado, California, Utah, and Texas have passed measures that impose rules on AI use across the private sector. These laws include limits on the collection of certain personal information and requirements that companies be more transparent about how AI systems operate. Other state initiatives focus on narrower issues, such as banning the use of deepfakes in elections, prohibiting AI generated nonconsensual pornography, and setting standards for how government agencies deploy AI tools.
The technology’s reach into daily life has fueled calls for oversight from lawmakers in both parties, as well as from civil liberties and consumer rights groups. AI systems increasingly influence decisions about who receives a job interview, an apartment lease, a home loan, or certain types of medical care. Research has shown that such systems can produce biased outcomes, including favoring or disadvantaging people based on gender or race, prompting demands for transparency and accountability.
State leaders targeted by Trump’s order have signaled they are unlikely to back down. California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized both the president and his top AI adviser in unusually blunt terms. “President Trump and Davis Sacks aren’t making policy—they’re running a con,” Newsom said. “Every day, they push the limits to see how far they can take it. California is working on behalf of Americans by building the strongest innovation economy in the nation while implementing commonsense safeguards and leading the way forward.”
In Congress, Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts said the executive order represents the culmination of a long lobbying campaign by the technology industry. “After months of failed lobbying and two defeats in Congress, Big Tech has finally received the return on its ample investment in Donald Trump,” Markey said. “With this executive order, Trump is delivering exactly what his billionaire benefactors demanded—all at the expense of our kids, our communities, our workers, and our planet.”
Markey emphasized that resistance to blocking state AI laws has crossed party lines. “A broad, bipartisan coalition in Congress has rejected the AI moratorium again and again,” he said, adding, “I will use every tool available to challenge this indefensible and irresponsible power grab. We will defeat it again.”
Opposition has also come from Republican officials at the state level. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis previously denounced efforts to bar states from regulating AI as a “subsidy to Big Tech.” In a written statement, he warned, “The rise of AI is the most significant economic and cultural shift occurring at the moment; denying the people the ability to channel these technologies in a productive way via self-government constitutes federal government overreach and lets technology companies run wild.”
Corporate lobbying groups welcomed Trump’s action. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other organizations representing major technology companies such as Microsoft and Google praised the order, characterizing it as a victory for “small businesses,” even as critics noted that some of the world’s largest corporations stand to benefit most directly from uniform federal intervention against state rules.
As the administration moves to implement the order, questions remain about which state laws will be targeted first, how the Commerce Department will define “onerous and excessive” regulations, and how aggressively funding threats will be used to pressure states. For now, the fight over AI regulation has shifted from Congress to the courts, with states, advocates, and industry bracing for a wave of legal challenges that could shape the future of oversight for one of the most powerful technologies of the modern era.
“We will defeat it again,” Markey said.
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