Trump is bringing back the AI law moratorium

The White House unveiled its "AI Action Plan" on Wednesday, which includes a resurrected version of the controversial AI law moratorium that failed in Congress. The plan states that the government "should not allow AI-related Federal funding to be directed toward states with burdensome AI regulations that waste these funds." This means that states that choose to enforce their own AI regulations may be punished on a federal level, with no expiration date. The plan also mentions that the Federal Communications Commission will evaluate whether state AI regulations interfere with the agency's ability to carry out its obligations under the Communications Act of 1934, though the penalties for this are not yet clear. The congressional moratorium, which would have prohibited new AI regulation, including data privacy and facial recognition rules, was initially passed in the House but ultimately excluded from Trump's funding bill after intense lobbying and back-door dealmaking. Now, a similar provision has resurfaced in the White House's AI Action Plan.