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I was looking through our stats on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and I noticed that about 55% of you are not subscribed to the show. That means 45% of you are subscribed and I really do appreciate your support for the other 55% of you are awesome. But I'm going to ask you for a favor. Could you please hit the subscribe button? It'll take you one second. I'm going to promise you 10 years of this podcast for free,
No pay walls. I'm not going to charge you anything ever, but I'm going to give you 10 years of this show for free. I've already been doing it for five years and I plan on doing it for 10 more. And the only way that we can continue doing this is with your support. So one second of your time to hit the subscribe button right now would help the show tremendously. Thank you so much. President Trump cited an executive order on Thursday that tells states to step aside on AI.
The order blocks states from enforcing their own AI regulation and replaces that patchwork with what the White House calls a single national framework for AI. That is a massive policy shift and it happened in the Oval Office with venture capitalists standing right behind the president. This one stopped me in my tracks. I was like, what is going on here? It looks like the industry is taking over the White House. Now. 4 states have already
passed AI laws. Colorado, California, Utah, and Texas all have rules on the books. So what happens to those laws now? The executive order creates A litigation task force inside the Justice Department specifically designed to sue states over their AI laws. We're going to cover how this order works, who is behind it and why Republicans are fighting each other over it and whether it will survive the courts. And we'll get right into that after this very short break.
Now, Trump just gave tech companies a federal shield against state oversight. The executive order dropped December 11th, and it carries real enforcement teeth. Attorney General Pam Bondi now has orders to build an AI litigation task force. Now, that task force has one job to sue states. The signing ceremony in the Oval Office told you everything you needed to know about who wanted this. David Sachs stood next to the
president. And Sachs is a venture capitalist and the White House crypto and AI czar. Now, another tech investor and podcaster was there. Tech Senator Ted Cruz rounded out the group. Now, hold on to that detail. The people celebrating this order are not consumer advocates or state attorneys generals. They are from Silicon Valley. Money. Here is what the order actually does. It directs the Justice Department to challenge state AI
laws in court. It tells the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commissions to work with the DOJ to circumvent what the White House calls onerous state and local regulations. It threatens to withhold federal broadband funding from states that pass AI laws the administration doesn't like. That is a funding penalty, which is a serious lever from the top. Now. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick now has to study which states might lose that money
now. Sachs offered one carve out during the ceremony. Child safety regulations stay in place. The administration will not push back on state laws designed to protect kids from EI harms. Sachs also wrote on social media that the order does not mean the administration will challenge every state AI law. Now that sounds reasonable until you realize the order gives the executive branch unilateral power to decide which state laws count as onerous. Now, there is no definition, no
list. The White House picks the targets. A quick definition here, though. When policy people say preemption, they actually mean the federal government overriding state authority. That is what this order attempts to do. The question is whether an executive order can actually do that. Legal experts say no Brad Carson runs Americans for Responsible Innovation. He called the order in attempt to push through unpopular and unwise policy. He predicted it will hit a brick
wall in the courts. Now that changes all these stakes. This is not a set of law. It's a fight in the courts right now. And here is a pretty key point here. Congress already already rejected this. In July, the Senate voted nearly unanimously to remove a 10 year moratorium on state IEI regulations from Trump's domestic policy bill. Republicans joined Democrats.
The moratorium died. Then Republican lawmakers tried again, pushing AI preemption into the National Defense Authorization Act. That also failed. The executive order is attempt #3 now that is the key. When the legislative branch says no twice, the executive branch does does it anyway, executive orders it. This is not a clean partisan fight. Republicans are on both sides. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called the idea a subsidy to Big tech.
He wrote that denying people the ability to channel these technologies through self government constitutes federal overreach and let's technology companies run rampant. That is a conservative Republican governor attacking A conservative Republican president. Steve Bannon went further on his War Room podcast. He said we have more regulations about launching a nail salon on Capitol Hill than we have on the Frontier Labs. We have no earthly idea what they're doing.
So what do we know? Right now, though, the MAGA Coalition is fractured on this. The tech industry wanted this very badly. Open AI, Google, and the venture firm Anderson Horowitz have all lobbied to limit state regulations. AI companies have been opening offices near the Capitol and launching campaigns through a super PAC, with at least $100 million earmarked for the 2026
midterm elections. Sam Altman, the CEO of Open AI, has argued the navigating 50 different state regulations would slow innovation and hurt America. In the AI race with China, that's how they frame it. National security versus state rights A critics see it differently. Sasha Hayworth runs the Tech Oversight project. She said we are in a fight to determine who will benefit from AI, big Tech, CE, OS or the
American people. Democratic Senator Ed Markey called the order in early Christmas present for his CEO billionaire buddies. He called it irresponsible, short sighted in an assault on state's ability to safeguard their constituents. Hundreds of organizations signed letters to Congress last month opposing the idea of blocking state AI regulations. Tech employee unions, consumer protection, nonprofits, education institutions. The opposition is very broad now.
What have states actually done here? 4 states passed laws setting rules for AI across the private sector. Those laws limit the collection of certain personal information and require more transparency from companies. And beyond those broader rules, many states have regulated specific AI uses, banning defects, elections, prohibiting AI generated non consensual videos, putting guardrails on government use of AI. Those laws now face potential federal challenge.
Now the legal question comes down to one word, authority. Mackenzie Arnold directs U.S. policy at the Institute for Law and AI. She pointed out that by the administration's logic, states would not be allowed to pass Product Safety laws either. That's almost all of them affect companies that sell goods nationally.
That makes the order vulnerable. Courts have historically allowed states to regulate products and business practices within their borders, even when those businesses operate across state lines. The Commerce Clause argument cuts both ways. Now do a little recap here. Trump signed an executive order blocking states from enforcing their own AI regulations. The order creates a Justice Department task force to sue those states. They threaten federal funding if they don't comply.
It gives the White House power to decide which state laws cross the line. Congress rejected similar measures twice this year. Republican governors and commentators oppose it alongside the Democrats. They're in this together. They don't want this to happen. Tech companies and their investors 100% want this so they can control everything that we do with AI. Look, I'm not a conspiracy theory person. I don't have a tinfoil hat. I've never worn one. But I know what money does to people.
If they can have control over the laws, they can do whatever they want with the technology and make more money. That's what Sam Altman wants. He's not your friend. None of the tech billionaires are your friends. I'm not a politician, but anybody that runs these companies, they have profit in mind.
They don't care about you. Now courts will likely decide whether this survives and hopefully an executive order does not limit states rights to do what they need to do to protect people from AI. Hey, thank you so much for listening today. I really do appreciate your
support. If you could take a second and hit the subscribe or the follow button on whatever podcast platform that you're listening on right now, I greatly appreciate it. It helps out the show tremendously and you'll never miss an episode. And each episode is about 10 minutes or less to get you caught up quickly. And please, if you want to support the show even more, go to patreon.com/stagezero and please take care of yourselves and each other and I'll see you tomorrow.