The White House handed a major boon to its tech industry allies on Friday, unveiling recommendations to Congress to curb state laws that limit artificial intelligence.
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has signed multiple executive orders that advanced the interests of his allies in the tech industry, including a controversial December directive intended to insulate the tech industry from a patchwork of state AI laws. Now, Trump’s tech advisers are hoping to pass legislation codifying these policies, improving the odds that they will not easily be overturned by the courts or future administrations.
“The federal government must establish a federal AI policy framework to protect American rights, support innovation, and prevent a fragmented patchwork of state regulations that would hinder our national competitiveness, while respecting federalism and State rights,” the White House framework says.
The move is likely to reopen a rift between the populists and technology leaders who together helped return Trump to the White House in 2024. Already, AI is emerging as an issue in the midterm elections.
The political tensions over AI will make it very unlikely for Congress to advance the AI legislation in a midterm election year, especially when Republicans have a razor-thin majority in Congress. Many Republican governors and influencers oppose the White House’s efforts to limit states’ ability to regulate artificial intelligence, and White House officials have not said that their framework has any Democratic sponsors.
Last year, the Senate voted 99-1 to kill a Trump-backed moratorium on state AI laws that the administration wanted as part of Trump’s tax and spending legislation.
Trump’s top tech advisers say their pro-industry AI policies will unleash an artificial intelligence boom that will make the United States competitive with China and improve the nation’s economic fortunes. AI companies and technologists with ties to the Trump administration have poured millions into super PACs that are supporting candidates who favor this light-touch approach to regulating the industry.
Those interests are colliding with public skepticism, as voters are increasingly wary about artificial intelligence eliminating jobs, endangering children and driving up energy prices. In the absence of legislation from Congress, many states have moved to craft laws to address concerns about the technology.
“We look forward to working with Congress in the coming weeks and months to turn this framework into legislation that the President can sign,” Michael Kratsios, assistant to the president for science and technology and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, said in a statement.
The White House incorporated language to address some concerns that Republicans raised last year. The framework calls on Congress to pass legislation to protect children online, including creating requirements for AI platforms that would reduce the risk that chatbots could encourage self-harm or be used for sexual exploitation of minors. The proposal also recommends that federal AI policy should not preempt states’ ability to protect children online or make decisions about the location of AI data centers.
White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks began using language like this to quell MAGA backlash to the administration’s AI rules last year, following pressure from conservative political activist Mike Davis.
The framework also recommends that Congress codify some other executive orders that the administration has crafted to boost the build-out of data centers. Following the administration’s efforts to steer contracts away from companies that it claims develop “woke AI,” the White House also wants Congress to prevent AI systems from being used to silence or censor lawful political expression or dissent.
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