Executive Order Outlines Concepts of Plan for AI Regulation, Focused on Trying to Shut Down State Laws

For more from EPIC on the AI Executive Order, read Alan Butler’s piece in Tech Policy Press.

Last night, President Trump signed an Executive Order directing agencies and officials in his administration to develop a policy framework for artificial intelligence. The Order does not establish or identify any specific policy positions on AI, other than the general goal to “remove barriers” and “encourage adoption” and a proposal to “work with Congress” to develop a “minimally burdensome national standard.” The Order alludes to many of the risks that AI systems pose—to security, to individual rights, to kids safety (see more about those in EPIC’s report on generative AI harms)—but it offers no solutions and, instead, endorses an anti-regulation approach. 

Most of the Executive Order is focused on tasking officials across various federal agencies with trying to undermine existing state laws. The Department of Justice is called on to lead an “AI Litigation Task Force” to file cases challenging state authority. The Department of Commerce is charged with identifying states whose laws are too “onerous” on AI companies and seeking to deny broadband development funding to those states. The Federal Communications Commission is tasked with developing a new “reporting and disclosure standard” under some yet-to-be specified legal authority. And the Federal Trade Commission is charged with drafting a “policy statement” about how “State laws that require alterations to truthful outputs” might be unfair and deceptive.

This Order, according to EPIC’s Executive Director, Alan Butler, is “exactly the opposite of what our country needs right now, given the significant risks and challenges posed by the deployment of artificial intelligence systems.” 

EPIC Senior Counsel Calli Schroeder added that “what we need to see are real solutions to the problems that these AI systems are creating, including privacy risks, threats to the mental well-being of our kids, economic and environmental instability, and more.” EPIC believes that states will continue to play a key role in setting tech policy and charting a responsible path forward.

“Congress has the power to set a national standard without taking away state authority,” said EPIC’s Deputy Director Caitriona Fitzgerald. “We have seen time and again that federal law can set a strong floor and allow states to continue to address new risks in the future. The reason states feel the need to regulate AI is because they see the harms and risks, and they see Congress’s failure to act.”