This morning, the White House rolled out President Trump’s “National AI Legislative Framework,” making recommendations for Congress to pass a law establishing a single federal standard governing artificial intelligence and to generally preempt the creation of a patchwork of “cumbersome” state-level regulations. While the Framework generally calls for preempting state laws on AI, there are some exceptions. For example, the Framework says that a national standard should not preempt state and local zoning laws or local determinations about the location of AI infrastructure. It also says Congress should not preempt state laws of general applicability that protect children, prevent fraud, and protect consumers.
The Framework is based on seven pillars, which include provisions related to the buildout of AI infrastructure. Among other things, the President calls for legislation that incorporates his recent “Ratepayer Protection Pledge” signed by several big tech companies to prevent increased consumer electricity costs from data centers along with streamlined permitting processes for the construction and operation of data centers and related infrastructure to “accelerate AI infrastructure buildout and enhance grid reliability.” The Framework also calls for legislation to aid in developing an AI-ready workforce, including methods to ensure that workforce training programs and apprenticeships affirmatively incorporate AI training. The President’s Framework also calls for expanding federal efforts to study trends in task-level workforce realignment driven by AI to inform policies supporting the American workforce and the provision of AI resources to small businesses to support wider deployment of AI tools across industries.