The results of the 2024 U.S. election are expected to have significant implications for AI legislation and regulation at both the federal and state level.
Like the first Trump Administration, the second Trump Administration is likely to prioritize AI innovation, R&D, national security uses of AI, and U.S. private sector investment and leadership in AI. Although recent AI model testing and reporting requirements established by the Biden Administration may be halted or revoked, efforts to promote private-sector innovation and competition with China are expected to continue. And while antitrust enforcement involving large technology companies may continue in the Trump Administration, more prescriptive AI rulemaking efforts such as those launched by the current leadership of the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) are likely to be curtailed substantially.
In the House and Senate, Republican majorities are likely to adopt priorities similar to those of the Trump Administration, with a continued focus on AI-generated deepfakes and prohibitions on the use of AI for government surveillance and content moderation.
At the state level, legislatures in California, Texas, Colorado, Connecticut, and others likely will advance AI legislation on issues ranging from algorithmic discrimination to digital replicas and generative AI watermarking.
This post covers the effects of the recent U.S. election on these areas and what to expect as we enter 2025. (Click here for our summary of the 2024 election implications on AI-related industrial policy and competition with China.)
The White House
As stated in the Republican Party’s 2024 platform and by the president-elect on the campaign trail, the incoming Trump Administration plans to revoke President Biden’s October 2023 Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence (“2023 AI EO”). The incoming administration also is expected to halt ongoing agency rulemakings related to AI, including a Department of Commerce rulemaking to implement the 2023 AI EO’s dual-use foundation model reporting and red-team testing requirements. President-elect Trump’s intention to re-nominate Russell Vought as Director of the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) suggests that a light-touch approach to AI regulation may be taken across all federal agencies. As OMB Director in the prior Trump Administration, Vought issued a memo directing federal agencies to “avoid regulatory or non-regulatory actions that needlessly hamper AI innovation and growth.”Continue Reading U.S. AI Policy Expectations in the Trump Administration, GOP Congress, and the States