United States — Top-Level Rules (Federal)
📍 This page covers federal level only
Section titled “📍 This page covers federal level only”For state and municipal laws, see U.S. States / Cities (California SB 53, Texas TRAIGA, Colorado AI Act, NYC LL 144, etc.).
The federal legislative vacuum
Section titled “The federal legislative vacuum”To date, Congress has passed no comprehensive or AI-specific legislation regulating AI systems themselves. AI compliance rests entirely on regulators’ and courts’ analogical application of general-purpose statutes:
- FTC Act §5 (unfair or deceptive business practices): misleading AI marketing, AI-driven discriminatory pricing
- Title VII / ADA (civil rights and disability law): anti-discrimination rules applied to AI employment decision tools
- FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act): AI credit / leasing / insurance decisions
- COPPA, HIPAA, GLBA, FERPA and other sector-specific privacy statutes
Although 100+ AI-related federal bills are pending in Congress (2025-2026), none have passed.
Three compensating mechanisms fill the vacuum: (1) presidential executive orders, (2) state legislation, and (3) NIST soft law and technical frameworks. None are statutory-level instruments, but through common-law mechanisms such as “reasonable care” and “compliance presumption,” they harden into de facto requirements.
Included pages
Section titled “Included pages”Executive orders (Trump-era, currently in force)
Section titled “Executive orders (Trump-era, currently in force)”- EO 14409 (2026-06-02) — classified cyber-capability benchmarking and a voluntary pathway for up to 30 days of federal pre-release model access
- EO 14179 (2025-01-23) — “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in AI”; revokes EO 14110, launches 180-day Action Plan
- Trump AI Action Plan + 2025-07 EOs — 25-page strategy document plus 3 companion EOs (Preventing Woke AI, Data Center, Exporting American AI)
- EO 14365 (2025-12-11) — “Ensuring a National Policy Framework for AI”; launches preemption campaign against state AI laws (AI Litigation Task Force, BEAD funding conditions)
Executive orders (revoked, kept for historical reference)
Section titled “Executive orders (revoked, kept for historical reference)”- EO 14110 (2023-10-30) — Biden-signed “Safe, Secure, Trustworthy AI,” revoked by EO 14179 in 2025-01
Presidential national-security memoranda
Section titled “Presidential national-security memoranda”- NSPM-11 (2026-06-05) — replaces NSM-25 and directs accelerated, multi-vendor AI adoption, updated autonomous-weapons guidance, secure computing, assurance and TEVV across the defense and intelligence enterprise
OMB memoranda
Section titled “OMB memoranda”- OMB M-25-21 / M-25-22 (2025-04-03) — federal AI use and procurement; supersedes Biden-era M-24-10 / M-24-18
Technical specifications (NIST, continuous across administrations)
Section titled “Technical specifications (NIST, continuous across administrations)”- NIST AI Risk Management Framework (RMF) 1.0 (2023-01) + Generative AI Profile (NIST AI 600-1, 2024-07) — de facto baseline
Timeline (federal AI policy reversal)
Section titled “Timeline (federal AI policy reversal)”| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2023-01-26 | NIST AI RMF 1.0 released |
| 2023-10-30 | Biden EO 14110 |
| 2024-03 / 10 | Biden OMB M-24-10 / M-24-18 |
| 2024-07 | NIST Generative AI Profile (AI 600-1) |
| 2025-01-23 | Trump EO 14179 revokes EO 14110 |
| 2025-04-03 | Trump OMB M-25-21 / M-25-22 |
| 2025-07-23 | Trump AI Action Plan + 3 EOs |
| 2025-12-11 | Trump EO 14365 (state law preemption) |
| 2026-06-02 | EO 14409 creates a voluntary frontier-model cybersecurity interface |
| 2026-06-05 | NSPM-11 replaces NSM-25 and resets national-security AI adoption and assurance policy |
May–June 2026 enforcement and implementation
Section titled “May–June 2026 enforcement and implementation”- On 21 May, the FTC announced a $930,000 settlement with Cox Media Group and two marketing firms over allegedly deceptive claims about an “Active Listening” AI-powered advertising service. The matter demonstrates continued use of FTC Act section 5 against AI marketing claims rather than a new AI-specific cause of action.
- The FTC began enforcement of the TAKE IT DOWN Act on 19 May and sent warning letters on 20 May. The Act is technology-neutral but directly relevant to AI-generated non-consensual intimate imagery and platform removal workflows.
- Colorado’s comprehensive AI Act reached its delayed effective date on 30 June 2026; Colorado also enacted sector-specific psychotherapy AI restrictions, signed 3 June and effective 12 August.
Primary enforcement source: FTC May 2026 releases.
Federal / state / local relationship (as of 2026-06-30)
Section titled “Federal / state / local relationship (as of 2026-06-30)”- Federal: deregulation and state-law preemption remain the baseline, while EO 14409 adds a voluntary national-security interface for cyber-capable frontier models and NSPM-11 establishes a defense/intelligence adoption architecture
- State: 1,208 state AI bills introduced and 145 state laws enacted in 2025; the primary battlefield of AI governance
- Local: TRAIGA explicitly preempts local ordinances; varies elsewhere
See subnational/us for details.
Comparison with China and the EU
Section titled “Comparison with China and the EU”| Dimension | United States | China | EU |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comprehensive AI law | None federal, state-law patchwork | Sectoral regulations + normative documents | Horizontal AI Act |
| Policy stability | Low (EOs flip with administrations) | High (central-party coordination) | High (stable legislative process) |
| Enforcement bodies | No dedicated regulator (FTC, EEOC, state AGs) | CAC-led | Member-state MSAs + AI Office |
| Approach to frontier models | EO 14409 voluntary federal interface + state laws (SB 53) | Filing + TC260 | GPAI obligations + CoP |
| International posture | Countering the Brussels Effect | Global AI Governance Initiative | Projecting the Brussels Effect |