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ARTICLE · 18 DECEMBER 2025

White House Issues "One Rule" Executive Order To Curb State AI Regulation

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President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO)1 that aims to take steps towards a uniform national framework for artificial intelligence (AI), primarily by attempting to curb the effect of state-level AI laws

United StatesTechnology
Joshua A. Geltzer
Joshua A. Geltzer
Kelly P. Dunbar
Kelly P. Dunbar
Arianna Evers
Arianna Evers
Matthew G. Olsen
Matthew G. Olsen
Lauren Moxley Beatty
Lauren Moxley Beatty
Bardia Vaseghi
Bardia Vaseghi
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President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO)1 that aims to take steps towards a uniform national framework for artificial intelligence (AI), primarily by attempting to curb the effect of state-level AI laws. The Order may yield legal challenges, which would set the stage for a sustained test of the Administration's preemption efforts in the absence of actual federal statutory enactment.

The President's announcement follows Congress's bipartisan decision to exclude from the final text of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) a provision that would have preempted most state AI laws. That decision marked the second high-profile failed attempt to attach an AI preemption measure to major legislation, following a similar omission of a 10-year (then 5-year) moratorium on state AI laws in the tax-and-spending bill ultimately signed into law earlier this year.

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