The US Government Sides With The Tech Giants

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Trump is preparing an executive order to prevent states from regulating AI, according to a CNN report on November 20.

The order would create an “AI Litigation Task Force” in the Justice Department tasked with challenging state-level AI regulations and replacing them with more lenient federal rules. The draft instructs the attorney general to contest laws around deepfakes, algorithmic bias, and AI safety that states have already passed. The administration wants a “uniform national policy framework” so tech companies do not have to navigate different regulations across 50 states.

This is the second attempt of the exact same thing. Congress already rejected the idea once in July. The Senate voted nearly unanimously to remove a 10-year moratorium on state AI regulation from Trump’s previous domestic policy bill. Lawmakers from both parties said no. Now the administration is trying to do it unilaterally.

What is interesting about this timing is that it comes while the EU just published the Digital Omnibus on AI, actually strengthening its regulatory framework rather than weakening it. The US is moving in the opposite direction. The EU is tightening oversight, while the US is trying to eliminate state-level oversight entirely.

The opposition is not just from usual suspects either. Hundreds of organizations including tech worker unions, civil rights groups, educators, and consumer protection agencies sent letters to Congress opposing the order. Even Republican governors like Ron DeSantis said removing state authority to regulate AI is “federal government overreach”.

The core argument is simple. Without state regulation, companies have no check at the local level. Tech companies argue this helps innovation. Everyone else argues it means no one is watching.