DOJ creates a new AI task force to regulate states, establish national policy following executive order 

The Department of Justice is creating an artificial intelligence task force to challenge state laws regarding the technology, as prescribed by a presidential executive order and confirmed by a Friday staff memo obtained by CBS News. 

The AI Litigation Taskforce will oppose state laws that are illegal, unconstitutionally regulate interstate trade or are overridden by existing federal regulations, CBS reports, citing the memo. 

Federal regulation will set a universal standard for AI safety and security that allows companies to “be free to innovate without cumbersome regulation,” the memo reads. 

“America must invent and embrace productivity enhancing AI uses that the world wants to emulate,” the Trump administration’s AI.gov website states.  “Achieving this requires the Federal government to create the conditions where private sector-led innovation can flourish.” 

This “AI action plan” includes the removal of “red tape and onerous regulation,” among numerous other tasks, according to the website. 

The new task force, to be headed by either U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi or another appointee, follows President Donald Trump’s December executive order, which gave the DOJ 30 days to establish it. In the order, Trump argues state-by-state regulation establishes an incoherent conglomeration of policies that hinder AI companies from cohesive and quick development. 

Such state laws sometimes embed “ideological bias within models,” Trump said, citing a Colorado law that bans “algorithmic discrimination” and “‘differential treatment or impact’ on protected groups.” 

A standard federal policy that governs states will aid America in the global AI race, Trump said. 

“To win, United States AI companies must be free to innovate without cumbersome regulation,” he said in the order.  “But excessive State regulation thwarts this imperative.” 

As reported by The Lion, more than half of Americans are concerned AI will weaken critical thinking skills and relationships, with 57% saying the risks of AI are high, according to a recent Pew Research study. 

Additionally, representatives and senators across the political divide are defending states’ rights to regulate AI independently. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, introduced the States’ Right to Regulate AI Act in December, following Trump’s executive order, which he called an “illegal power grab.” 

Rep. Thaddeus Claggett, R-Ohio, also advocated for states’ authority to regulate AI and “protect our people.” 

Trump, however, claims a national framework is necessary “to sustain and enhance the United States’ global AI dominance,” per the December order. 

“The resulting framework must forbid State laws that conflict with the policy set forth in this order. That framework should also ensure that children are protected, censorship is prevented, copyrights are respected, and communities are safeguarded,” the order states.  “A carefully crafted national framework can ensure that the United States wins the AI race, as we must.”