Washington's patchwork: federal preemption meets state AI laws

In the United States, AI governance is being built in real time. In December 2025, Executive Order 14365 aimed to halt state-by-state AI regulation and prepare the ground for federal preemption; it directed the Commerce Department to identify onerous state AI laws and refer them to a new AI Litigation Task Force, which the Department of Justice set up in January 2026. Meanwhile, state rules such as Colorado's obligations for deployers of high-risk systems, Utah's AI disclosure requirements and Illinois's biometric and employment-related AI laws remain in effect. In Congress, comprehensive AI legislation is considered unlikely in the near term; lawmakers favour narrow bills, such as the TAKE IT DOWN Act, signed in May 2025, which criminalizes nonconsensual AI-generated intimate images, and child-protection proposals such as the GUARD Act, which advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee in May 2026. A March 2026 National AI Policy Framework offered legislative recommendations without imposing obligations. Why it matters: companies operating in the United States face a layered landscape until preemption is settled. Source: K&L Gates, How AI Governance Is Being Built in Real Time, 26 May 2026.