Here’s the intro from this Cooley Alert penned by our stellar AI practice group that remains at the frontier of AI law:
“On December 11, 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order (EO) seeking to limit states’ regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) and to establish instead “a minimally burdensome national policy framework for AI.” Trump’s move creates significant uncertainty for states like California and Colorado, which have enacted comprehensive laws regulating AI and whose political leadership may be willing to challenge the administration.
The EO cites Colorado as an example of a state with laws requiring developers “to embed ideological bias within models.” The federal government may also target states that have passed AI laws focused on specific industries or uses of AI, such as New York, which passed laws on AI companions and algorithmic pricing. The EO creates even less certainty with respect to the enforcement of preexisting legal regimes, such as privacy and consumer protection, in a manner that could be seen to obstruct the president’s policy and burden AI development. However, carve outs in the EO indicate that the administration will not block state efforts to pursue child safety, manage AI data center infrastructure, and accelerate state government procurement and use of AI.
In line with Trump’s EO 14179 from earlier this year, “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence,” this latest EO argues that the growing patchwork of state laws threatens US technological leadership and economic competitiveness. The EO does not preempt the many state AI laws that have already been passed. However, it mobilizes federal officials and agencies to take action that may curtail state efforts to enforce their laws and regulate AI. These actions raise potentially wide-ranging ramifications for state governments, technology companies and companies deploying AI systems across sectors.
The EO comes on the heels of a prior attempt by the White House and some members of Congress to rein in state AI regulation. In May, the House of Representatives passed a 10-year moratorium on state AI laws as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
However, the Senate struck the AI provision from the final version of the bill. Efforts to include a moratorium or preemption in the yearly must-pass National Defense Authorization Act also failed. This EO again brings to the fore the conflict between states’ interest in regulating AI and the federal government’s inability to develop and pass legislation on the topic.”
Authored by
Broc Romanek