US Government Wants to Prevent AI Regulation by Individual States

The USA wants to introduce a nationwide AI law and thereby also counteract the regulation of individual states. US President Donald Trump made this clear and signed a corresponding decree.

According to this, a national framework is to be created, which will stand above the laws of individual states. With their innovations or changes to existing AI products, AI manufacturers should not have to turn to "50 different states" first, Trump emphasized at a press conference.

Criticism of "Patchwork"

The decree also criticizes such a patchwork of regulations – it is becoming increasingly difficult for AI manufacturers to comply with the rules everywhere, especially for startups. In some cases, the states' laws would also extend beyond their territory if manufacturers had to adapt their products generally to a single law.

Trump's AI advisor David Sacks also referred to this situation. Currently, over 1000 laws for AI regulation are being discussed in the various states, and over 100 have already been passed. "That just doesn't make sense." However, Sacks' figures likely also include numerous laws that relate purely to the internal administrative use of AI and have little to do with AI users or AI manufacturers in the free economy.

Individual State Laws Likely Under Scrutiny

The International Association of Privacy Professionals recently attempted in October to list only those AI laws that also apply to private organizations. It lists seven comprehensive laws in California, Colorado, Utah, and Texas, with another in New York currently under discussion. Individual government-related laws could, of course, also indirectly affect the free economy, the authors note. The USA does not have a nationwide AI law, but rather a mixture of federal requirements, agency guidelines, and a strong "state-law patchwork," meaning partly different regulations at the level of individual US states.

With the new decree, the US government primarily wants to ensure that there are no more such laws at the state level. Furthermore, the document also provides that individual, already passed state laws can be reviewed by Trump's government if they "slow down innovations" too much.

The US government also sees the current decree as an important step in the AI race with China. It is intended to prevent lengthy decision-making processes, which do not exist in the Middle Kingdom. On his inauguration day, January 20, 2025, Trump had already repealed his predecessor's Executive Order 14110 in order to focus more on "unleashing" innovation.

(nen)