Key takeaways

• Trump has signed an executive order to create a national AI policy that limits states’ ability to enforce their own AI rules.
• The order sets up an AI Litigation Task Force and lets Washington threaten broadband and other grants to states with “onerous” AI laws.
• Tech companies back the move as a way to avoid a patchwork of state regulations, while states and rights groups call it an overreach.
• Legal experts say the order will face strong constitutional challenges and may not fully preempt existing state AI protections.
• The outcome will shape how AI is regulated across the US, affecting users, workers and tech firms, including many in the Nepali diaspora.

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President Donald Trump has signed an executive order creating a national AI policy framework that aims to stop US states from enforcing their own artificial intelligence regulations, setting up a major fight over who controls the rules for powerful new tech. The order, titled “Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence,” was signed on 11 December.

The executive order instructs Attorney General Pam Bondi to set up an “AI Litigation Task Force” to challenge state AI laws the administration views as too burdensome or ideological. It also directs the Commerce Department to list “problematic” state regulations and allows the federal government to threaten cuts to broadband and other grants for states that do not step back.

Trump argues that only a single national standard can protect US innovation and help American companies compete with China in the AI race. The order states that the goal is a “minimally burdensome national policy framework for AI” and warns that a patchwork of 50 state rules would scare off investment. Tech investors and major AI firms have lobbied for this approach and have welcomed the move.

The order targets regulations in states such as California, Colorado, Illinois and Texas, which have introduced AI laws on transparency, discrimination in hiring, data use and deepfakes in elections and sexual abuse content. Supporters of these laws say they are needed to protect consumers, workers and voters from real-world harms like biased algorithms and deceptive synthetic media.

State officials, civil liberties groups and many legal scholars say Trump’s AI order overreaches and may not survive in court. They argue that an executive order cannot simply erase state consumer-protection laws and question whether the White House can tie long-planned broadband funds to AI policy in this way. Several analyses say the order may create fear and pressure but could prove “more bark than bite” once judges review it.

For immigrant tech workers, including many Nepali engineers and students in US AI companies, the order could mean looser local rules on how their tools are deployed but fewer state-level protections for users affected by biased or unsafe systems. The real impact will depend on which state laws are actually challenged and how courts rule in the coming months. Federal agencies now have a tight timeline to identify target laws, while several states have already vowed to defend their AI safeguards.