AI Regulation and Tech Policy

The White House is preparing to send Congress a legislative framework for regulating artificial intelligence as soon as Friday, Axios reports, setting up a fight over whether federal rules should preempt tougher or conflicting state laws. Multiple sources say the plan, organized around what White House AI czar David Sacks calls the 'four C’s'—child safety, communities, creators and censorship—has been developed in consultation with House and Senate leaders, with the House Energy and Commerce and Senate Commerce Committees expected to take the lead. The framework is meant to be paired politically with kids’ online safety bills, but the House and Senate remain split over key provisions such as a 'duty of care' requirement that platforms mitigate design‑driven harms to minors. At the same time, some major AI firms, including OpenAI and Google, are signaling they can live with an emerging patchwork of state rules modeled on California’s SB53 and New York’s RAISE Act if Congress stays deadlocked, reducing their incentive to back strong federal preemption. The initiative will effectively be the administration’s opening bid in defining national guardrails for AI and online platforms, with Republicans like Sen. Marsha Blackburn already floating the TRUMP AI Act to codify much of Trump’s executive‑order approach and wrap in their preferred children’s safety language.