President Donald Trump responded Thursday to state governments and former Biden AI officials plotting to impose their censorship agenda on American artificial intelligence.
Trump condemned woke, anti-free-speech state efforts targeting AI in an executive order, “Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence.” The order directs a new AI task force to identify and challenge stifling, and anti-free speech, state laws, and restricts federal broadband funding for states that enact them. It also urges Congress to establish a national AI regulatory framework rather than a state-by-state patchwork.
Trump’s order warns that state laws are “increasingly responsible for requiring entities to embed ideological bias within models,” before announcing a plan for more permanent action:
“My Administration must act with the Congress to ensure that there is a minimally burdensome national standard — not 50 discordant State ones. The resulting framework must forbid State laws that conflict with the policy set forth in this order. That framework should also ensure that children are protected, censorship is prevented, copyrights are respected, and communities are safeguarded."
The order directly targets state-level attempts to censor AI and social media under the banner of “equity.” Trump singled out a Colorado AI law passed in the name of preventing “algorithmic disparity.” In practice, the law creates a one-way ratchet: AI models are prohibited from engaging in anything the State of Colorado deems “unlawful differential treatment or impact that disfavors an individual or group of individuals,” while simultaneously permitting differential treatment if the state believes it will “increase diversity or redress historical discrimination.”
Trump’s order blasts this law, suggesting it “may even force AI models to produce false results in order to avoid a ‘differential treatment or impact’ on protected groups.” The order also warns that poorly crafted state law can affect companies nationwide: “State laws sometimes impermissibly regulate beyond State borders, impinging on interstate commerce.”
ICYMI: Former Biden Officials Show Appetite for Anti-Free Speech AI Regulation
White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks will lead the AI task force alongside Assistant to the President for Science and Technology Michael Kratsios. In a Thursday post on X, Sacks reassured followers that the order would not challenge every state AI law, only those that are “onerous and excessive.”
Sacks added, “We look forward to working with Congress to enact a stable and enduring framework that reduces unnecessary regulation, enables innovation, protects core values, and helps America win the AI race.”
Hours after the order came out, leftist California Governor Gavin Newsom responded on X, calling this order a “con.” He claimed, “California will continue building a nation-leading innovation economy while implementing common sense safeguards.”
Conservatives are under attack! Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
