President Trump is demanding an end to excessive state-level regulation of artificial intelligence and warning that individual state rules will threaten the U.S. economy.

Trump shared his position on Truth Social this week where he slammed what he called Woke AI and referred to a patchwork of state regulations in the AI space.

“Investment in AI is helping to make the U.S. Economy the ‘HOTTEST’ in the World. But overregulation by the States is threatening to undermine this Major Growth Engine. Some States are even trying to embed DEI ideology into AI models, producing ‘Woke AI’ (Remember Black George Washington?). We MUST have one Federal Standard instead of a patchwork of 50 State Regulatory Regimes.”

The president made his comments as House Republican leaders signaled they may try to include AI preemption language in the annual National Defense Authorization Act. This would block states from bringing in their own AI rules and protections.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Monday that Republican leaders are considering the measure to prevent what he called regulatory chaos as states advance their own rules.

Trump’s push for a unified national framework lines up with his broader Winning the AI Race America’s AI Action Plan.

Under executive orders issued in July, federal agencies must avoid buying AI systems that sacrifice truthfulness and accuracy to ideological agendas. The orders require agencies to follow Unbiased AI Principles and support the fight against AI-generated deepfakes through the Take It Down Act.

Vice President JD Vance backed up Trump’s position at February’s Artificial Intelligence Action Summit.

“We believe that excessive regulation of the AI sector could kill a transformative industry just as it’s taking off.”

Not all Republicans agree with the president’s approach.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis shared a post on social media Tuesday and warned that overriding state authority would serve as a subsidy to Big Tech. He said it would prevent states from protecting against online censorship of political speech, predatory applications that target children, violations of intellectual property rights and data center intrusions on power and water resources.

Trump’s post also came after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman committed during Tuesday’s visit to the White House to increasing his planned investment in the U.S. economy to nearly one trillion dollars over the next year.

Senator Elizabeth Warren raised concerns Tuesday about the government’s potential use of taxpayer funds to support OpenAI and other AI firms.

“OpenAI’s actions suggest that it may be pursuing a deliberate strategy to entangle itself with the federal government and the broader economy, so the government has no choice but to step in with public funds. We have seen this before: take on enough debt, make enough risky bets, and then demand a taxpayer bailout when those bets go south, so the economy does not crash.”

The debate over AI regulation has become increasingly urgent as the technology advances rapidly and competition with China intensifies. Trump and his allies argue that a single federal standard will help American companies move faster and compete more effectively on the global stage.

States have been moving ahead with their own AI regulations in recent months. Some have focused on consumer protection issues while others have tried to address concerns about bias and discrimination in AI systems. This has created what Trump calls a patchwork of different rules that companies must navigate.

The president’s concern about Woke AI refers to incidents where AI systems have produced results that seem to prioritize diversity and inclusion messaging over historical accuracy. The reference to Black George Washington appears to point to cases where AI image generators have produced historically inaccurate depictions in an apparent attempt to increase diversity in generated images.

Supporters of Trump’s position argue that having 50 different state regulatory schemes will make it impossible for American AI companies to compete with Chinese firms that operate under a single set of national rules. They worry that excessive regulation at the state level will drive AI development and investment overseas.

Critics worry that federal preemption could prevent states from protecting their residents against real harms from AI technology. They argue that states have traditionally played an important role in consumer protection and that removing their ability to regulate AI could leave people vulnerable.

The National Defense Authorization Act has become a key battleground for this debate. If Republicans succeed in adding AI preemption language to the bill, it could effectively end state-level AI regulation across the country.