Yesterday, an Executive Order designed to prevent states from regulating artificial intelligence within their own borders was leaked. This Executive Order, if signed, would establish an AI litigation “task force” at the Department of Justice to threaten, harass, and sue states that pass any bill deemed “unlawful” under legal theories including “the attorney general’s judgment.”
Additionally, it would empower the Commerce Secretary to restrict disbursement of federal broadband nondeployment funds from states with AI laws that he deems “onerous.” The Executive Order also directs the Federal Trade Commission to explore whether the FTC Act’s prohibition on engaging in deceptive acts or practices prohibits states’ efforts to avoid bias and discrimination in AI models. Finally, it directs the Federal Communications Commission and the Special Advisor for AI and Crypto to prepare rules establishing a uniform Federal regulatory framework for AI that preempts state AI laws. The draft order provides no legal authority for this directive.
Public Knowledge finds this proposed Executive Order both an illegal and illogical attempt to bully states into complying with the Trump administration’s demands to abandon all consumer protection efforts in the face of AI – at the exact moment Americans need these protections the most.
The following can be attributed to Nat Purser, Senior Policy Advocate at Public Knowledge:
“Rather than doing the hard work of establishing a federal regulatory standard for AI with Congress, the White House has invented authorities and delegated non-existent powers to the agencies and executives most anxious to do the President’s bidding. Meanwhile, Congress is trying again to slip soundly rejected AI regulation moratoriums into must-pass legislation in the dark of night.
“We can agree with the President’s desire for ‘one Federal Standard’ for regulation of AI, but only Congress can actually enact one. And they should – a framework for AI regulation is critical to ensuring consumer trust and driving innovation. Where Congress has failed to act, states have stepped up. The President has no authority or power to overrule them by decree.”
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