Washington – US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday aimed at centralizing the oversight of artificial intelligence at the federal level in order to prevent individual states from separately regulating the technology.
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.
PRESIDENT TRUMP CREATES A UNIFIED AI REGULATORY FRAMEWORK FOR THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES
🔸 President Trump has signed an executive order establishing a single nationwide AI rulebook to prevent each state from creating its own separate regulations.
🔸 The goal is to help AI… pic.twitter.com/1gLF6TITci
— ThuanCapitalGlobal (@ThuanGlobal) December 12, 2025
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 CEO 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.
Deep State gofer Trump (his owners) imposes centralised control of AI to delete state regulation that blocks AI dystopia. This is exactly what I said he would do from the moment he ran for office the second time as a front man for the billionaire oligarchy. Alongside him is… pic.twitter.com/7DiH2qM1mQ
— David Icke (@davidicke) December 12, 2025
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 United States 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.
Follow African Insider on Facebook, X and Instagram
Picture: X/@WarDesigner0
For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com
Source: AFP
