U.S. President Donald Trump has called on Congress to pass a federal standard governing the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI), warning that varying regulations at the state level could slow down the development of this emerging technology that is vital to the U.S. economy. In a post on his "Truth Social" platform on Tuesday, Trump urged lawmakers to take quick action and proposed ideas that could include artificial intelligence-related bills in upcoming defense policy legislation.
“Investments in artificial intelligence are helping to make the U.S. economy the ‘hottest’ economy in the world — but over-regulation by states is threatening that growth engine,” Trump said in a social media post, advocating for a “single federal standard rather than a fragmented framework of regulatory systems in each of the 50 states.”
Trump said that the relevant "Regulatory Suspension Act" can also be passed as a separate bill.
“If we don’t take action, China will easily catch up with us in the AI race,” he said.
According to people familiar with the matter, in the past few weeks, White House government officials have directly contacted members of Congress to promote "priority regulation" at the federal level (that is, federal regulatory power over state regulatory power). Previously, leading artificial intelligence companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic have stated that they support the establishment of a federal-level artificial intelligence regulatory framework rather than state legislation.
Nvidia Corp. CEO Jensen Huang has publicly expressed a similar view, saying that China's simplified regulatory process gives it an advantage over the United States in the global artificial intelligence race. On Tuesday, Trump insisted during a meeting with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that the United States "still leads by a significant margin" in the competition.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, told Punchbowl News earlier this week that Republican leadership is “considering” including relevant provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act. The bill is responsible for formulating the budget and expenditure plans of the U.S. Department of Defense and is often used as a "vehicle" to promote other policy measures.
In July, the Senate rejected an attempt to include the AI regulation provision in a budget bill, with opponents saying the move could hamper efforts to implement child safety protections and copyright controls for the emerging technology. In addition, California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed a bill earlier this year requiring large artificial intelligence developers to disclose their security protocols.
People familiar with the matter said that various parties are currently discussing a number of proposals, some of which propose that if artificial intelligence companies agree to comply with standards set at the federal level in areas such as child safety, they can be exempted from complying with state artificial intelligence regulations.