No sooner was the ink dry on Donald Trump’s artificial intelligence executive order than Gavin Newsom came out swinging. Just hours after the order was made public on Thursday evening, California’s governor issued a statement saying that the president’s order, which seeks to prevent states from regulating AI on their own, promotes “corruption and corruption” rather than innovation.
“President Trump and David Sachs aren’t making policy — they’re running a fraud,” Newsom said, referencing Trump’s AI adviser and crypto “czar.” “Every day, they push the limits to see how far they can take it.”
Trump’s executive order is a big win for tech companies campaigned against legislative barriers To develop and deploy your AI products. It also creates conflict between state governments and the White House over the future of AI regulation. The immediate reaction from groups including child protection organizations, unions, and state officials highlighted the deeply controversial nature of the order and the wide variety of interests it impacts.
Several officials and organizations have already questioned the legality of the executive order, saying Trump does not have the power to weaken state law on AI and condemning the decree as the result of tech industry lobbying. California, home to some of the world’s most prominent AI companies and one of the most active states in legislating on AI, has been the center of opposition to the order.
“This executive order is deeply misguided, deeply corrupt, and will actually hinder innovation and undermine public trust in the long run,” California Democratic Representative Sarah Jacobs said in a statement. “We will pursue all avenues – from the courts to Congress – to overturn this decision.”
After a draft version of Trump’s order was leaked in November, state Attorney General Rob Bonta said Said That his office “will take steps to investigate the legality or potential illegality of such executive order,” would begin a precedent-setting duel between California and the White House.
legislative fights
In September, Newsom Signed a historic AI law Which would force developers of large, powerful AI models, known as “frontier models,” to provide transparency reports and immediately report security incidents or face fines of up to $1 million. The governor introduced the Frontier Artificial Intelligence Transparency Act as an example of how to regulate AI companies nationwide.
“Our state’s position as a global leader in technology provides us with a unique opportunity to provide a blueprint for well-balanced AI policies beyond our borders,” Newsom said in an address to the California State Senate. “Particularly in the absence of a comprehensive federal AI policy framework and national AI safety standards.”
The September bill and more California laws could be Trump’s targets. Thursday’s executive order calls for an AI litigation taskforce that would review state laws that “do not increase the global AI dominance of the United States” and then take legal action or potentially block federal broadband funding. The taskforce will also consult with the administration’s AI and crypto “czars” to determine which laws to target.
Although Trump framed the executive order as a means of streamlining the law and removing burdensome patchwork regulation, critics have charged that the government has never provided any comprehensive federal framework for regulating AI by replacing state laws. The order follows efforts to include a similar AI moratorium In the bills earlier this yearWhich failed due to bipartisan backlash. Instead, opponents see the order as a gift to major tech companies that have cooperated with the administration during the year.
“President Trump’s unlawful executive order is nothing more than a brazen effort to dismantle AI protections and give tech billionaires unchecked power over the jobs, rights, and freedoms of working people,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in a statement.
nationwide response
Within hours of Trump signing the order, protests erupted among lawmakers, labor leaders, children’s advocacy groups and civil liberties organizations, who condemned the policy. Other Democratic leaders from California said the executive order is an attack on state rights and that the administration should focus on federal agencies and academic research to foster innovation.
California Senator Alex Padilla said, “No place in America knows the promise of artificial intelligence technologies better than California.” “But with today’s executive order, the Trump administration is attacking state leadership and basic safeguards in one fell swoop.”
Similarly, Adam Schiff, another senator from California, emphasized: “Trump is trying to eliminate state laws that establish meaningful safeguards around AI and replace them with … nothing.”
Lawmakers from Colorado to Virginia and New York also took issue with the order. Virginia Congressman Don Beyer called it a “terrible idea” and said it would “create a chaotic Wild West environment for AI companies”. Similarly, New York State Assemblyman Alex Bors called the order a “huge windfall” for AI companies, and said that “a handful of AI oligarchs bribed Donald Trump to sell out America’s future”.
Even Trump loyalist and former adviser Steve Bannon criticized the policy. one in text message to axiosBannon said that Sachs “grossly misled the President on preemption”. Mike Kubzansky, CEO of Omidyar Network, a philanthropic tech investment firm that funds AI companies, similarly said, “The solution is not to preempt state and local laws” and that ignoring AI’s impact on the country “is an abdication of the obligations elected officials have to their constituents through a complete preemption.”
Opposition to the order also includes child protection organizations that have long expressed concerns over the effects of AI on children. The debate over child safety has intensified this year in the wake of several lawsuits against AI companies over children committing suicide after interacting with popular chatbots.
James Steyer, CEO of the child advocacy group Common Sense Media, said, “The AI industry’s continued race to engage already has a body count, and, in issuing this order, the administration has made clear that it is content to let it grow.” “Americans deserve better help from the tech industry at the expense of their own well-being.”
Bereaved parents and a group of child advocacy organizations have also spoken out. They are working to pass legislation to better protect children from harmful social media and AI chatbots issued a national public service announcement Protested against AI preemption policy on Thursday. Separately, Sarah Gardner, CEO of the Heat Initiative, one of the coalition’s groups, called the order “unacceptable.”
“Parents will not allow our children to remain lab rats in big tech’s deadly AI experiment that puts profits over the safety of our children,” Gardner said. “We need stronger protections at the federal and state levels, not amnesty for big tech billionaires.”
