Trump Urges Adoption of Single Federal Standard on AI Regulation

The president warned that state-level rules are stifling the country’s AI growth.

A sign for artificial intelligence (AI) at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, on March 3, 2025. Manaure Quintero/AFP

President Donald Trump said the United States should adopt one federal standard for governing artificial intelligence (AI), saying it’s important for the United States to stay ahead of China in the race for AI dominance.

In a Truth Social post on Nov. 18, Trump said the United States needs a single AI standard rather than “a patchwork of 50 state regulatory regimes,” warning that state-level rules are stifling the country’s AI growth.

“Investment in AI is helping to make the U.S. Economy the ‘HOTTEST’ in the World, but overregulation by the States is threatening to undermine this Major Growth ‘Engine’,” he wrote.

Trump said some states tried to “embed DEI ideology into AI models,” producing what he described as “woke AI.” DEI refers to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

“If we don’t, then China will easily catch us in the AI race. Put it in the NDAA, or pass a separate Bill, and nobody will ever be able to compete with America,” he stated, referring to the National Defense Authorization Act.

His statement came amid reports that House Republican leaders were planning to include language in the NDAA that would prevent states from regulating AI.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has opposed the plan, saying that stripping states of AI regulatory power would be “a subsidy to Big Tech” and would block states from “protecting against online censorship of political speech, predatory applications that target children, violations of intellectual property rights, and data center intrusions on power/water resources.”

“The rise of AI is the most significant economic and cultural shift occurring at the moment; denying the people the ability to channel these technologies in a productive way via self-government constitutes federal government overreach and lets technology companies run wild. Not acceptable,” DeSantis stated on X.

AI Dominance Pursued

Since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump has pursued policies aimed at securing U.S. dominance in AI development, including efforts to remove regulatory barriers on AI developers.

The White House’s “AI Action Plan,” released in July, stated that the country seeks to build “the most powerful AI systems in the world,” and recommended that the federal government block AI-related funding to states with AI regulations.

“AI is too far important to smother in bureaucracy at this early stage, whether at the state or Federal level. The Federal government should not allow AI-related Federal funding to be directed toward states with burdensome AI regulations that waste these funds, but should also not interfere with states’ rights to pass prudent laws that are not unduly restrictive to innovation,” it stated.

In July, Trump signed an executive order targeting what he called “woke AI.” The order directs federal agencies to procure only large language models that are “truth-seeking” and politically neutral—AI models that the administration deems “do not manipulate responses in favor of ideological dogmas such as DEI.”