Trump Administration Issues Executive Order on AI

On December 11, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order (EO) that aims to limit state regulation of artificial intelligence (AI). Titled “Ensuring A National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence”, the EO directs the administration to take multiple steps to limit state regulation of AI.

The EO directs the Attorney General to establish an AI Litigation Task Force that will be responsible for challenging state AI laws that don’t align with the EO as well as monitoring new state AI laws that the federal government might decide to challenge. The EO also directs the Secretary of Commerce to publish an evaluation of existing state AI laws they think should be referred to the task force for review. Other elements of the EO include creating a policy to restrict state eligibility for funding related to their AI laws, and directing the Federal Communications Commission to consider federal disclosure standards for AI models.

While the EO also includes a directive to the Special Advisor for AI and Crypto and the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology to prepare a proposal for a legislative framework that would regulate AI at the federal level, the EO itself does not preempt any state AI laws or establish new laws. To that end, companies should continue to comply with applicable state laws and requirements that are currently in place. It is likely that this debate between whether AI is governed at the federal or state level, or some combination of both, will play out in court. As AI is now a part of many companies’ day to day operations, employers should keep a close eye on developments in this space.