The White House on Friday released policy guidelines that called for blocking state laws regulating artificial intelligence, while also recommending some safeguards for children and consumer protections for energy costs.
Dozens of states have passed laws in recent months to regulate A.I., which has created concerns about the technology’s potential to steal jobs, push up energy prices and threaten national security. But President Trump has made clear U.S. companies should have mostly free rein in a global race to dominate the technology.
On Friday, the White House called on Congress to pass federal A.I. legislation to override the state laws. Among the Trump administration’s suggested measures, Congress would streamline the process for building data centers, the warehouses full of computers that power A.I. The framework also proposed guardrails to prevent the government from using the technology for censorship, as well as mandating A.I.-related work force training.
“This framework can succeed only if it is applied uniformly across the United States,” the White House said in its announcement. “A patchwork of conflicting state laws would undermine American innovation and our ability to lead in the global A.I. race.”
Meta, OpenAI, Google and other A.I. giants have argued that a patchwork of state laws could slow down their progress. The companies have repeatedly pointed to regulation as the biggest hindrance to the nation’s success in leading the world in A.I.
Some companies and their leaders have contributed to super PACs that are spending tens of millions of dollars aimed at blocking the election of candidates who favor A.I. regulation in the lead-up to the November midterm elections.
The guidelines follow an executive order signed by Mr. Trump in December, which called on the Justice Department to sue states that pass laws regulating A.I. As part of that order, Mr. Trump also called for creating “minimally burdensome” guidelines for regulating the technology federally.
In its announcement Friday, the White House said it would work with Congress to “turn this framework into legislation that the president can sign.”
The framework is already gaining Republican support. House leaders Mike Johnson of Louisiana, the speaker, and Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the majority whip, along with members of the Commerce Committee, said on Friday that the House would support the White House’s proposed framework.
“To ensure we continue to harness its potential and beat China in the global A.I. race, Congress must take action,” Mr. Johnson, Mr. Scalise and other Republican lawmakers said in a statement. “Today, the Trump Administration took a critical step in releasing a framework that gives Congress a road map to pursue legislation that provides innovators with much-needed certainty, while protecting consumers and prioritizing kids’ online safety.”
As part of the framework, the White House called for the pre-emption of any state laws on the development of A.I. It also called for limiting liability for A.I. developers related to harms caused by A.I. systems.
California, Colorado and New York have all passed A.I. laws mandating safety testing, and report harmful incidents, alongside other guardrails.
The White House also called for provisions that protected children, including stronger parental controls and privacy protections. Companies must pay for higher energy costs, according to the framework, which also says that Congress should streamline the process for data center manufacturing.
Public interest groups said they feared any resulting federal legislation would fall short of stronger safety and privacy protections mandated by states.
“States are currently leading the fight to protect Americans from harms that A.I. systems can create,” said Samir Jain, a vice president of policy at the Center for Democracy and Technology.
Cecilia Kang reports on technology and regulatory policy for The Times from Washington. She has written about technology for over two decades.
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