The Trump Administration’s Order on AI Is Deeply Misguided

Widespread news reports indicate that President Donald Trump’s administration has prepared an executive order to punish states that have passed laws attempting to address harms from artificial intelligence (AI) systems. According to a draft published by news outlets, this order would direct federal agencies to bring legal challenges to state AI regulations that the administration deems “onerous,”  to restrict funding to those states that have these laws, and to adopt new federal law that overrides state AI laws.

This approach is deeply misguided.

As we’ve said before, the fact that states are regulating AI is often a good thing. Left unchecked, company and government use of automated decision-making systems in areas such as housing, health care, law enforcement, and employment have already caused discriminatory outcomes based on gender, race, and other protected statuses.

While state AI laws have not been perfect, they are genuine attempts to address harms that people across the country face from certain uses of AI systems right now. Given the tone of the Trump Administration’s draft order, it seems clear that the preemptive federal legislation backed by this administration will not stop ways that automated decision making systems can result in discriminatory decisions.

For example, a copy of the draft order published by Politico specifically names the Colorado AI Act as an example of supposedly “onerous” legislation. As we said in our analysis of Colorado’s law, it is a limited but crucial step—one that needs to be strengthened to protect people more meaningfully from AI harms. It is possible to guard against harms and support innovation and expression. Ignoring the harms that these systems can cause when used in discriminatory ways is not the way to do that.

Again: stopping states from acting on AI will stop progress. Proposals such as the executive order, or efforts to put a broad moratorium on state AI laws into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), will hurt us all. Companies that produce AI and automated decision-making software have spent millions in state capitals and in Congress to slow or roll back legal protections regulating artificial intelligence. If reports about the Trump administration’s executive order are true, those efforts are about to get a supercharged ally in the federal government.

And all of us will pay the price.