politics
Trump revives unpopular Ted Cruz plan to punish states that impose AI laws
Cruz plan to block broadband funding lost 99-1, but now it’s back—in Trump form.
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TL;DR
- President Trump is considering an executive order to challenge state AI laws.
- The order would task the Attorney General with creating an AI Litigation Task Force to sue states with AI laws.
- States with AI laws could be made ineligible for federal broadband funding, such as the BEAD program.
- The administration aims to establish a single, minimally burdensome national standard for AI regulation.
- The draft order specifies that laws altering truthful AI outputs or compelling unconstitutional disclosures would be challenged.
- Funding restrictions could extend to other federal grant programs, requiring agencies to assess if grants can be conditioned on states not enacting conflicting AI laws.
- The FCC and FTC would be directed to take action against state AI laws, potentially establishing federal standards that preempt state ones.
- The order also calls for legislative recommendations to create a uniform federal AI regulatory framework that preempts state laws.
- This proposal revives a similar idea previously proposed by Senator Ted Cruz.
- Trump believes states are trying to embed DEI ideology into AI and that a single federal standard is necessary to compete with China.