US President Donald Trump has said he would sign an executive order this week related to the artificial intelligence approval process to avoid having different rules in each US state.
"There must be only One Rulebook if we are going to continue to lead in AI... I will be doing a ONE RULE Executive Order this week. You can’t expect a company to get 50 Approvals every time they want to do something," Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Monday.
Trump did not provide details on the executive order, but Reuters reported last month that the US president was considering an executive order that would seek to preempt state laws on AI through lawsuits and by withholding federal funding.
ChatGPT maker OpenAI, Alphabet's Google, Meta Platforms, and venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz have called for national AI standards instead of a 50-state patchwork of laws, saying the laws stifle innovation.
The move is likely to face pushback from the states, which have previously warned of "disastrous consequences" if the technology is left unregulated.
Pushback from states
Trump seems undeterred. “We are beating ALL COUNTRIES at this point in the race, but that won’t last long if we are going to have 50 States, many of them bad actors, involved in RULES and the APPROVAL PROCESS,” he wrote.
“THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT ABOUT THIS! AI WILL BE DESTROYED IN ITS INFANCY!” Trump added.
State lawmakers from both parties have meanwhile warned against any federal push that would override their own policies.
“In recent years, legislatures across the country have passed AI-related measures to strengthen consumer transparency, guide responsible government procurement, protect patients, and support artists and creators,” they wrote in a letter to the US Congress.
“These laws represent careful, good-faith work to safeguard constituents from clear and immediate AI-related harms. A federal preemption measure on state AI laws risks sweeping these protections aside and leaving communities exposed,” they said.
