Overview
- Reuters reporting, echoed by Mashable, indicates the administration has paused a draft executive order that would have preempted state AI rules by creating an AI Litigation Task Force and threatening to withhold federal funds from states with “burdensome” regulations.
- Efforts to insert a preemption provision into the National Defense Authorization Act face resistance from key lawmakers, with Sen. Jack Reed criticizing the idea and Rep. Mike Rogers objecting on procedural grounds, after a similar bid was stripped out in a 99–1 Senate vote earlier this year.
- President Trump endorsed adding a state AI regulation ban to the defense bill, as House GOP leaders explored the move, while supporters such as White House AI official David Sacks and investor Marc Andreessen argued that a 50-state patchwork would stifle innovation.
- Opposition spans the ideological spectrum, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Steve Bannon, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, alongside new polling showing 3-to-1 public opposition to federal preemption.
- States continue advancing targeted measures driven by child-safety concerns, with the Pennsylvania Senate passing a bill addressing AI-generated child sexual abuse material and Virginia Delegate Michelle Maldonado planning a narrower, healthcare-focused AI bill for 2026.