Executive Order 14365 — Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence
Directs a DOJ task force to challenge state AI laws in court; orders Commerce (within 90 days) to identify 'onerous' state AI laws and condition BEAD non-deployment broadband funds on them; directs an FCC proceeding on a federal AI reporting/disclosure standard and an FTC policy statement on state laws requiring altered model outputs; orders draft federal preemptive legislation. Carve-outs for child safety, data-center infrastructure, and state procurement. Standing alone it lacks preemptive force.
Signed December 11, 2025 (the November 2025 leaked draft 'Eliminating State Law Obstruction of National AI Policy' became this EO); DOJ AI Litigation Task Force announced January 9, 2026 and litigating against Colorado's AI Act; legislative recommendations released March 20, 2026as of 2025-12-11primary source ↗
“Number one, I would form a new agency that licenses any effort above a certain scale of capabilities and can take that license away and ensure compliance with safety standards. Number two, I would create a set of safety standards focused on what you said in your third hypothesis as the dangerous capability evaluations.”
Speaker: Sam Altman, CEO, OpenAI. Third-party verbatim transcript.
“just come back to the question of, of whether we need an independent agency. I mean, I think we don't want to slow down regulation to address real risks right now. Right? So we have existing regulatory authorities in place who have been clear that they have the ability to regulate in their respective domains.”
“I think that would be disastrous. I to give a more specific answer to your previous question, which I think touches on why it would be so bad, there are three key inputs to these AI systems.”
Speaker: Sam Altman, CEO, OpenAI. Third-party verbatim transcript; transcript's 'I to give' artifact preserved.
“Congress has spent a lot of time over the last year debating whether to do away with regulations for the AI industry – this bill is a welcome show of bipartisan support for creating rules of the road to protect the public.”
“And the federal government should embrace policy frameworks that preserve access to data for fair learning, advance a risk-based approach to AI applications based on existing regulations, and preempt a chaotic patchwork of state-level rules on frontier AI development.”
“This bill does not propose any regulatory scheme to replace or supplement the laws enacted or currently under consideration by the states, leaving Americans entirely unprotected from the potential harms of AI.”
“More than 1,000 AI-related bills have already been introduced at the state and local level this year. Without a federal moratorium there will be a growing patchwork of state and local laws that will significantly limit AI development and deployment.”
Coalition letter of 250+ business associations to Senate leaders Thune and Schumer.
“We, the undersigned organizations, call on you to strike the AI moratorium from the budget reconciliation text to protect our families. It is irresponsible and short sighted to strip children, creators, and Americans from all backgrounds of their most basic protections and tie the hands of state legislators.”
Co-led 140+ organization letter (with Common Sense Media, Young People's Alliance, ARI and others).
“However, its purpose is clear: create a standing mechanism for the federal government to attack a wide range of state laws even before those laws are fully implemented and, ideally, chill them from being adopted in the first place.”
“This is a disastrous proposal that Big Tech is celebrating. This bill strips states of their authority to respond to real harms consumers are experiencing.”