White House AI Legislative Vision Stresses Need for a Pro-Innovation National Framework
The White House has released a new “National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence,” which is meant to provide a foundation for congressional action on AI policy. The framework marks an important moment for national technology policy and provides a sensible basis for AI governance going forward.
Through this action, the administration has once again signaled the need for a clear national framework to avoid what President Trump correctly labelled “lowest common denominator” AI regulation by the most onerous state policies—coming primarily from California and New York. Trump made it clear in the speech announcing his administration’s comprehensive “AI Action Plan” that it would be preferable to have “one commonsense federal standard that supersedes all states.” The goal was to establish a “try-first” policy framework for accelerating America’s algorithmic capabilities and squaring off against China in the growing “AI Cold War.” Following up on the Action Plan, President Trump issued an executive order in December stating that, “My Administration must act with the Congress to ensure that there is a minimally burdensome national standard — not 50 discordant State ones.”
Trump’s new legislative policy framework builds on this vision with clear instructions that “Congress should preempt state AI laws that impose undue burdens to ensure a minimally burdensome national standard consistent with these recommendations, not fifty discordant ones.” This is important for both economic and geopolitical reasons, as the new framework notes. It further notes that “Preemption must ensure that State laws do not govern areas better suited to the Federal Government or act contrary to the United States’ national strategy to achieve global AI dominance.”
Unfortunately, a rapidly growing patchwork of confusing, contradictory, and costly state AI laws threatens to create an unsustainable situation for the American AI technology ecosystem. Innovators and the public need clarity and common-sense policies if the United States is going to continue to be the global leader in AI and advanced computational science and investment. This is why a light-touch federal AI policy framework is essential.
When crafting a federal AI policy framework, the administration also correctly noted that “Congress should not create any new federal rulemaking body to regulate AI, and should instead support development and deployment of sector-specific AI applications through existing regulatory bodies with subject matter expertise and through industry-led standards.” Congress needs to step up and craft a sensible framework based on that vision.
Importantly, the Trump administration’s new legislative vision arrives just days after Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) introduced a radical new regulatory proposal for AI with the audacious acronym the “TRUMP AMERICA AI Act.” In reality, her bill is completely at odds with Trump’s policy vision. While Trump’s AI Action Plan stressed the need for a “try-first” policy, Blackburn’s 291-page bill is a European-style “regulate-first” vision for technology policy.
Her bill contains countless new mandates on a broad range of AI policy issues and would open the door to an unprecedented wave of lawsuits through open-ended liability provisions. It also includes several provisions that raise obvious First Amendment and privacy issues. Most problematically, Blackburn’s bill even flirts with the idea of nationalization of AI labs. Such a radical regulatory regime must be wholly rejected. It would undermine the amazing benefits algorithmic systems have to offer Americans while simultaneously handing China the lead in the race for global AI leadership.
President Trump’s new framework offers a better starting point for reasonable national AI governance. The framework includes recommendations regarding online safety, copyright issues, and free speech that will require careful deliberation to ensure alignment with First Amendment values and constitutional limitations.
Importantly, a national AI policy framework need not completely preempt all state laws related to AI systems. As with previous technologies and sectors of national importance where interstate commerce was clearly implicated, a federal AI policy bill would offer common definitions and greater clarity regarding the federal-state balance of governance responsibilities. While some aspects of AI development and commerce would be preempted (especially matters involving large frontier AI labs and models), many other state policies and generally applicable laws would likely remain untouched, or exist with light guardrails to prevent policy confusion.
The ball is in Congress’s court now. The Trump administration has provided lawmakers with a foundation for AI governance that can address runaway state over-regulation while helping ensure America’s continued global leadership in advanced computation and emerging technology.