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U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order on artificial intelligence (AI) aimed at overriding an expanding patchwork of state-level laws and replacing them with a unified national framework.
“We want to have one central source of approval,” Reuters cited Trump telling reporters, standing alongside senior aides including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
According to White House AI adviser David Sacks, the order equips the administration with tools to resist what it views as the most “onerous” state rules.
He added that the administration does not intend to challenge regulations focused on children’s safety in relation to AI.
Major players in the sector — including ChatGPT maker OpenAI, Google parent Alphabet, Meta Platforms and venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz — have argued that regulation of the industry should fall to the federal government rather than individual states.
Even so, leaders across both major political parties insist states must retain the authority to impose safeguards, particularly as Congress has repeatedly failed to enact national legislation governing the tech sector.
Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, has proposed an AI bill of rights encompassing data privacy, parental controls and consumer protections. In California, Governor Gavin Newsom earlier this year approved legislation requiring major AI developers to set out how they plan to mitigate potentially catastrophic risks.
Other states have introduced laws prohibiting AI-generated non-consensual sexual imagery and unauthorised political deepfakes. - December 12, 2025