US President Donald Trump has signed a sweeping executive order aimed at preventing individual states from enforcing their own artificial intelligence (AI) regulations, insisting that America needs “one central source of approval” to govern the rapidly advancing technology.
Speaking in the Oval Office on Thursday, Trump said fragmented AI rules across states could stifle national progress and hamper the United States’ ambition to lead the global AI race. The order gives the federal government new tools to override what the administration considers “onerous” state-level restrictions, according to White House AI adviser David Sacks.
Sacks noted that the administration would not challenge state rules specifically designed to safeguard children, but said broader attempts to regulate AI needed national uniformity to support innovation.
The move represents a major victory for technology companies, many of which have been lobbying for years for nationwide AI legislation. Industry leaders argue that a patchwork of state regulations threatens to slow innovation, drive up compliance costs, and disadvantage the US in its competition with China, where investment in AI continues to surge.
Firms such as OpenAI, Google, Meta and Anthropic — all contacted for comment — have long maintained that inconsistent regulatory frameworks could derail billions of dollars already committed to AI research and deployment.
But the announcement has triggered strong opposition, particularly from California, which has historically led the nation in technology regulation. Governor Gavin Newsom, an outspoken critic of Trump, condemned the executive order in unusually blunt terms.
“Today, President Trump continued his ongoing grift in the White House, attempting to enrich himself and his associates, with a new executive order seeking to pre-empt state laws protecting Americans from unregulated AI technology,” Newsom said.
California recently enacted its own AI oversight law, requiring major developers to produce detailed plans for mitigating the risks associated with their models. Newsom has argued that the law provides a framework that federal lawmakers could adopt more broadly.
Other states, including Colorado and New York, have introduced their own AI rules, reflecting growing concern across the country that federal action has been too slow and too limited to address rapidly evolving technological risks.
Advocacy groups have also criticised the executive order, saying it strips states of the ability to protect residents where federal safeguards remain insufficient.
“Stripping states from enacting their own AI safeguards undermines states’ basic rights to establish sufficient guardrails to protect their residents,” said Julie Scelfo of Mothers Against Media Addiction.
Critics argue that without robust state measures, consumers could be left vulnerable to unchecked AI deployment, including issues such as algorithmic bias, misinformation, privacy breaches and the exploitation of children online.
For now, Trump’s executive order marks a decisive shift toward centralised federal authority, setting up what could become a prolonged legal and political battle over the future of AI governance in the US.
Melissa Enoch
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