A federal proposal that would ban states and local governments from having their own regulations around AI for the next ten years is moving closer to being signed into law.
Senator Ted Cruz and various Republican lawmakers are pushing to pass a major spending bill — which President Trump has nicknamed the “big, beautiful bill” — that includes a measure to stop states from creating their own rules on artificial intelligence.
In May, the House added this provision to President Trump’s full budget bill. According to the bill, no state “may enforce any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems” for 10 years, starting from the day the bill becomes law.
While Congress has not passed any comprehensive laws on AI, many states have enacted their own regulations. For example, California passed several laws regarding the technology last year, including legislation banning political deepfakes. But a new federal proposal could override these state laws.
According to a report by Reuters, many AI industry leaders support the federal law, saying it would help the U.S. stay ahead in innovation. Companies like Google and OpenAI believe having different rules in each state would slow progress and hurt the U.S.’s ability to compete with China.
Critics of the federal proposal say it would stop states from passing laws that protect people from harm caused by AI. They argue it could reduce oversight and allow big AI companies to operate with little accountability. Sean O’Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a union representing more than 1.3 million workers, says the bill “denies citizens the ability to make choices at the local or state level.”
“Pure and simple, it is a giveaway to Big Tech companies who reap economic value by continuing to operate in an unregulated void where their decisions and behavior are accountable to no one,” O’Brien writes in a letter posted on X (the platform formerly known as Twitter).
As lawmakers work to include the measure in a large GOP bill ahead of a July 4 deadline, Senator Marsha Blackburn said she reached a deal with Senator Ted Cruz on new language for the provision, according to The Hill.
The new version would block states from regulating AI for five years if they want access to $500 million in AI infrastructure and deployment funding included in the bill. The original version, which Blackburn opposed, would have blocked state regulation for 10 years.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
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