Trump moves to block artificial intelligence regulation by states

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday aimed at centralising the oversight of artificial intelligence at the federal level in order to prevent individual states from separately regulating the technology.

US-made AI "will not be successful unless they have one source of approval or disapproval...They can't go to 50 different sources," said Trump, who advocates for a deregulated approach to AI, in the Oval Office.

"There's only going to be one winner here, and that's probably going to be the US or China and right now, we're winning by a lot," Trump added.

The text aims to ensure that artificial intelligence can operate within a single country-wide framework rather than being subject to state-level regulations that could paralyze the sector, a White Hosue offical said.

An executive order cannot, in theory, supersede a text voted on by Congress or by an American state's legislature.

The order came after Congress twice refused to vote for allowing the overriding of state-level laws on AI.

The idea to stop states from regulating AI themselves has been advanced by David Sacks, a Silicon Valley insider and Trump's AI and crypto czar, with the support of AI's biggest players, including OpenAI boss Sam Altman and Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang.

More than one hundred AI-related laws have already been adopted in about thirty states, with both Democratic and Republican majorities.

The state laws cover numerous aspects related to AI, including the responsible development of generative AI models, the creation of deepfakes and requiring transparency when AI technology is used.

Many bills have been introduced in Congress, but none have yet been put to a vote.

A few hours after his inauguration in January, Trump canceled an executive order issued by his predecessor Joe Biden on AI safety.

That order notably required companies in the sector to transmit certain data relating to their AI models to the federal government.

They also had to communicate test results when the programs presented a serious risk in terms of national security, the economy, or public health.

Trump has made a major play to position the US at the head of the global race to build and control AI tools predicted to transform everything from the way the economy works to military technology.

However, the White House is running up against skepticism in Congress and within his own MAGA movement, where many voices are wary of the technology's potential economic and social harms.