The Trump administration on Friday unveiled a sweeping legislative blueprint for regulating artificial intelligence, pressing Congress to establish a uniform federal standard and override a potential patchwork of state-level laws.
The four-page framework, billed by the White House as a "commonsense national policy framework," lays out broad priorities, including provisions on child protection, energy costs, intellectual property and free speech.
The White House is also seeking federal preemption of state AI rules, after states moved to pass their own laws amid political gridlock that has blocked federal legislation in Washington, AFP reported.
"Congress should preempt state AI laws that impose undue burdens to ensure a minimally burdensome national standard consistent with these recommendations, not fifty discordant ones," the framework states.
In a major shift, the difficulty in passing laws at the federal level has seen major AI companies pivot to supporting state laws they can get behind.
OpenAI said this week that in the absence of a national framework, states "should align around the emerging model in California and New York."
Google president of global affairs Kent Walker told Axios that state coordination on AI laws is welcome and flagged legislation California and New York backed by pro-big tech governors as a good example to follow.
On child protection, the White House calls for age-verification requirements for AI platforms likely to be accessed by minors, parental controls over privacy settings and screen time, and mandatory features to combat sexual exploitation and self-harm risks.
On intellectual property, the Trump administration believes that the training of AI models on copyrighted material "does not violate copyright laws," but acknowledging arguments to the contrary, it "supports allowing the Courts to resolve this issue."
Despite the White House's push for swift action, like most attempts at tech regulation in the United States, the legislation faces a tough road to become law in Congress.
Two previous attempts by the White House to enshrine federal preemption in Congress have failed.
The administration has also threatened to impose broadband and internet funding restrictions on states whose AI legislation is judged as too cumbersome.
