Trump Signs Executive Order to Halt State AI Regulation and Create AI Litigation Task Force
On December 11, 2025, former President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled "Ensuring a national policy framework for artificial intelligence," aiming to halt AI regulation at the state level. Although not legally binding, the order creates a Department of Justice-led AI Litigation Task Force with the sole responsibility to challenge state AI laws.
The executive order directs a review of existing state laws that might require AI models to alter their truthful outputs. Likely targets include California, known for safety testing disclosures, and Colorado, which requires risk assessments for algorithmic discrimination. The order also revives a previously blocked 10-year moratorium on state AI laws, part of Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but this remains an executive action without statutory force.
David Sacks was appointed as a special adviser for AI and cryptocurrency, tasked with consulting the AI Litigation Task Force on which state laws to challenge. The move has faced pushback from state leaders and civil liberties groups, who criticize it for concentrating power with big tech companies and potentially worsening AI-related harms.
Trump framed this executive order as a measure to protect AI investment in the United States and to avoid a fragmented system requiring approval from 50 different states, situating it amid the broader context of US–China AI competition.
