Trump's 10-Year AI Regulation Ban

When Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called the proposed 10-year AI regulation ban "too blunt," he wasn't just critiquing policy—he was diagnosing a much deeper problem. The Trump administration's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" would prohibit states from enforcing "any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems" for a full decade, while systematically excluding the very experts who understand what's at stake.

This isn't governance. It's Silicon Valley ventriloquism with catastrophic consequences.

The Expert Exodus Nobody's Talking

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While Trump talks big about AI dominance, his administration is quietly sidelining the AI Safety Institute, founded during Biden's administration and tasked with measuring and countering risks from AI systems. Its inaugural director, Elizabeth Kelly, departed her role on Feb. 5. The U.S. delegation to a major AI summit in Paris won't include technical staff from the country's AI Safety Institute, signaling that actual expertise is persona non grata in Trump's AI vision.

Meanwhile, Silicon Valley leaders who previously worked with the Biden administration have embraced Trump and hope to guide his approach toward one with fewer restrictions. Translation: The foxes aren't just guarding the henhouse—they're writing the building codes.

During the Biden administration, federal agencies began to develop guardrails to protect people when AI threatened their civil rights or safety. But President Trump is already rolling back these modest measures with little to replace them. We're not talking about heavy-handed overregulation here—we're talking about basic safety testing and transparency requirements that any serious technology deployment should include.

State Preemption: A Recipe for Regulatory Chaos

A bipartisan group of 40 state attorneys general, including Republicans from Ohio, Tennessee, Arkansas, Utah and Virginia, urged Congress to ditch the measure that would ban state AI regulation. When Republican AGs are calling your deregulation plan "irresponsible," you might want to reconsider your approach.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, over 550 AI-related bills have been introduced by at least 45 states in 2025 alone, covering everything from workplace bias and privacy rights to deepfakes and content labeling. The federal vacuum has forced states to act, and now Trump wants to slam the brakes on the only functioning oversight we have.

"In the absence of federal protections, the proposal to block state and local action on AI for the next ten years places the development, deployment, and use of AI into a lawless and unaccountable zone," Travis Hall, director for state engagement at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said.

The China Obsession Blinds Us to Real Risks

Trump's AI strategy boils down to "beat China at all costs," but this binary thinking ignores the complex reality of AI development. Vice President JD Vance criticized laws governing the sector, saying "massive" regulations could strangle the technology. Yet Americans have some of the highest rates of mistrust of AI in the developed world—a trust deficit that thoughtful regulation could help address.

The administration's focus on raw competition while ignoring safety frameworks is like entering a Formula 1 race without brakes because "they slow you down." Much of the standard-setting established by Biden's order followed the path of earlier AI executive orders signed by Trump in his first term, making the dramatic reversal even more puzzling.

When Billionaires Replace Researchers

In formulating the administration's autonomous vehicle policy, President-elect Trump will likely seek input from Elon Musk, who, as CEO of Tesla, has made major investments in developing autonomous driving technologies. This encapsulates everything wrong with Trump's approach: policy shaped by financial interests rather than technical expertise.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who is a "special government employee" in the Trump administration, has also promoted his own AI chatbot Grok by demonstrating its ability to call users slurs. This is who's shaping AI policy now—not safety researchers, not ethicists, not even traditional tech policy experts. Just billionaires with products to sell.

The administration's approach reflects the Republican Party's commitment to "free speech and human flourishing," without providing specifics on regulatory measures to address potential risks. Pretty words that mean nothing when your AI systems are making life-altering decisions about healthcare, employment, and criminal justice.

The Innovation Fallacy

Proponents argue that excessive regulation stifles innovation, but this misses the fundamental point: thoughtful regulation can enhance innovation by building public trust and ensuring market stability. "Like safety innovations of the past, AI safety will become a differentiator at a product level," said Ryan Carrier, executive director of ForHumanity.

The EU's AI Act isn't stifling European innovation—it's creating a competitive advantage by establishing clear rules and consumer protections. Meanwhile, we're creating a regulatory wasteland and calling it leadership.

The Path Forward Requires Actual Expertise

"We can't allow the race against China on AI to be a race to the bottom, and if Congress is unable or unwilling to step up it should not stand in the way of state or local lawmakers," said Travis Hall. The solution isn't to eliminate oversight—it's to create smart, evidence-based policies developed by people who actually understand the technology.

Real AI leadership requires balancing innovation with safety, competition with cooperation, and corporate interests with public welfare. It requires listening to researchers, not just billionaires. It requires understanding that "move fast and break things" becomes deeply problematic when the things being broken are people's lives and democratic institutions.

Trump's approach isn't making America great—it's making us a cautionary tale. When the next AI-driven crisis hits, remember that we chose Silicon Valley stockholders over Stanford researchers, and political theater over technical expertise.

The experts are still here, still working, still offering solutions. The question is whether we'll listen before it's too late.

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