By Jody Godoy and Karen Freifeld
(Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump is considering an executive order that would seek to preempt state laws on artificial intelligence through lawsuits and by withholding federal funding, according to a draft of the order seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
The move, which is likely to face pushback from states, shows how far Trump is willing to go to help AI companies overcome a patchwork of laws they say stifle innovation.
A White House official told Reuters that until officially announced, discussion of potential executive orders was speculation.
The order would task Attorney General Pam Bondi with establishing an “AI Litigation Task Force whose sole responsibility shall be to challenge state AI laws, including on grounds that such laws unconstitutionally regulate interstate commerce, are preempted by existing federal regulations, or are otherwise unlawful,” according to the document.
It would also direct the Department of Commerce to review state laws and issue guidelines that would withhold broadband funding in some cases.
The Senate voted 99-1 against an effort to block AI laws earlier this year. An initial version of that measure would have blocked states that regulate AI from the $42 billion Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program, known as BEAD.
State lawmakers and attorneys general from both major political parties rallied against the measure at the time, calling it harmful to their ability to protect state residents from fraud, deepfakes and child abuse imagery.
The issue took on new life after Trump on Tuesday threw his weight behind a proposal by Republicans in Congress to add a similar provision to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
Some members of Congress, including Senator Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, and Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, this week opposed adding the measure to the NDAA.
Trump’s draft executive order would task White House legislative director James Braid and AI czar David Sacks with recommending federal legislation to preempt state AI laws and federal agencies with finding ways to block them.
The draft executive order criticises California’s recently enacted AI disclosure law, calling it “complex and burdensome.”
It said a Colorado law aimed at preventing algorithmic discrimination “may even force AI models to embed DEI in their programming,” referring to diversity, equity and inclusion.
(Reporting by Jody Godoy in New York; Editing by Chris Reese and Jamie Freed)
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