According to Fast Company, President Donald Trump announced on Monday, via a Truth Social post, that he plans to issue a “ONE RULE Executive Order” this week to establish federal rules for artificial intelligence. The core aim is to prevent all 50 individual states from setting their own AI regulations, which Trump framed as a threat to U.S. competitiveness. A draft version of the order, which circulated last month, proposed creating a federal legal task force to punish states with AI rules, potentially by denying them federal funds. The executive order, which would override any existing or future state AI laws, is expected to face immediate legal challenges. This is part of a broader pattern of aggressive deregulation since Trump took office.
The stakes for developers and businesses
So here’s the thing: for any company building or deploying AI, this is a huge deal. Right now, the landscape is a patchwork. You’ve got states like California pushing forward with their own bills on algorithmic discrimination, and others considering rules for deepfakes or AI in hiring. For a national company, that’s a compliance nightmare. Trump‘s argument is simple: you can’t innovate if you’re constantly lawyering up for different rules in every state. And look, he’s not wrong about the friction. But is replacing 50 potential rules with one federal rule the answer? Especially when that one rule isn’t even written yet? The promise is simplicity and speed. The risk is that a single, potentially lax federal standard stifles local efforts to protect citizens from AI’s very real harms.
A massive power grab and legal fight
Let’s be clear: this is a direct assault on states’ rights, and it’s going to get messy. The federal government overriding state law isn’t new, but using the purse strings to actively punish states for legislating on a emerging tech issue is incredibly aggressive. You can bet blue states with active AI legislative agendas will sue immediately. They’ll argue that the federal government can’t commandeer state regulatory power like this. We’re looking at years of litigation, which creates its own form of paralysis. Basically, Trump’s “one rule” to cut red tape might just replace it with a giant, uncertain legal battle. Not exactly the stability businesses are craving.
What it means for AI innovation and safety
This is where the philosophical debate gets real. The pro-innovation crowd will cheer this as removing handcuffs, letting U.S. companies outpace China and the EU without burdensome local ethics reviews. But the other side sees a race to the bottom. If the federal framework is weak—and a draft proposing punishment for states suggests it might be—what stops the worst abuses? States have often been the laboratories for tougher consumer and worker protections. Shutting that down centralizes all power and could freeze important safety innovations. So, are we trading potential risk for speed? Probably. And in a field moving this fast, that’s a gamble with enormous consequences.
It’s worth noting that this fits a clear pattern. As tracked by analysts at institutions like the Brookings Institution, the administration’s broader deregulatory push has targeted everything from finance to the environment. AI is just the newest frontier. The outcome of this fight won’t just shape your ChatGPT experience; it will define who gets to govern the technological infrastructure of the future. That’s a power struggle just beginning.
