White House Weighs Challenge to State-Level AI Rules

The Trump administration is reportedly considering new challenges to state-level artificial intelligence (AI) regulation.

One of those challenges could come in the form of an executive order calling for an attorney general-led task force to challenge AI laws deemed too burdensome, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Wednesday (Nov. 19).

The order would also call for federal funding to be withheld from those states via a federal interest access program, the report added, citing a draft of the order seen by the WSJ, as well as sources familiar with the discussion.

In a post on his Truth Social platform earlier in the week, President Donald Trump had called for a single federal standard “instead of a patchwork” of state rules.

As the WSJ notes, Trump had made AI a key part of his economic and foreign-policy strategy. State regulations in places like New York and California have led the administration to demand action on the federal level.

On the other side of the aisle, the report added, lawmakers argue that a ban on state-level AI regulations would only work if Congress had made progress on a federal AI bill. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) earlier in the week referred to the preemption policy as a “poison pill” and said his party would block it.

Elsewhere, figures in the tech world have launched their own campaign to prevent state-level AI regulations. For example, Meta in September created a non-federal super PAC called the American Technology Excellence Project that will push to elect AI and tech-friendly state lawmakers, while working against those it sees as insufficiently supportive of the sector.

The effort by the White House comes a little less than a month after California passed a series of AI and social-media bills creating the nation’s most extensive state-level safeguards for minors and mandating that AI developers disclose their training data.

These bills, signed by Gov. Gavin Newsome, address child online safety and AI accountability, while introducing new standards for chatbot oversight, age verification and content liability.

“The laws mark the most comprehensive attempt yet by a U.S. state to regulate how generative AI and social platforms interact with users,” PYMNTS wrote last month.

Not every state-level AI regulation has gone smoothly. Colorado in 2024 passed the country’s first AI Act, designed to limit the use of AI in  “consequential decisions,” such as hiring, loans, education, healthcare and housing.

However, the state said in September that it would hold off on implementing the law until June of 2026, giving businesses in Colorado more time to prepare.

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