Last week, we looked at the steps state governments are taking to shape AI (artificial intelligence) regulation in 2025, with 73 new AI laws across 27 states, making this one of the fastest periods of AI policymaking in American history. This week, let’s turn our attention to the federal government and its position surrounding AI.
While states legislate rapidly, the federal government has begun evaluating the role of AI a bit more slowly. Here on the blog, I have written about how the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy identified five principles that should guide the design, use, and deployment of automated systems to protect the American public in the age of artificial intelligence. The Blueprint for AI Bill of Rights is simply a guide for society that protects all people from threats.
More recently, in September, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy requested public input on which federal rules may unintentionally hinder AI innovation.
It identifies several categories where regulatory misalignment may exist, including rules designed around human-only assumptions, frameworks that don’t account for autonomous systems, and processes that create unnecessary burdens or ambiguity.
In response to the government’s request for comment, OpenAI advocates for a regulatory model built on flexibility and performance rather than rigid prescriptive requirements. Its suggestions include:
- Creating or strengthening a federal center of excellence focused on AI standards, security, and collaboration.
- Using evolving, consensus-based standards to keep regulation aligned with rapid innovation.
- Offering safe harbors, sandbox environments, and sunset clauses so rules can adjust as technology develops.
- Streamlining approval pathways for low-risk AI categories
- Ensuring sensitive technical data shared with agencies is protected to encourage better cooperation.
The overarching theme from OpenAI’s submission is that regulation should enable responsible progress while avoiding unnecessary friction that could slow the broader beneficial adoption of AI. Of course, right?
Here’s the hard reality: For businesses, the patchwork of state laws combined with soon-to-change federal frameworks creates an environment where compliance must be proactive, not reactive. These rules will directly shape rights, protections, and expectations—from digital authenticity to AI accountability. And for society, the stakes include everything from election transparency to healthcare safety and beyond. But all this patchwork approach is going to create is a larger Wild West of errors and mistakes that might create more litigation and confusion. We need to be more responsible and thorough in how we approach the future of AI.
We all recall when President Trump took very decisive steps toward achieving this goal during his first days in office by signing Executive Order 14179, The goal here is, “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence,” calling for America to retain dominance in this global race and directing the creation of an AI Action Plan. As part of this AI Action Plan, the president is hoping, AI will enable Americans to discover new materials, synthesize new chemicals, manufacture new drugs, and develop new methods to harness energy—creating a new industrial revolution. It will enable radically new forms of education, media, and communication—an information revolution of sort. The AI Action Plan outlines three pillars: innovation, infrastructure, and international diplomacy and security.
At the local level, we’re witnessing a regulatory convergence: states experimenting quickly, and the federal government exploring long-term modernization. The result will define how AI coexists with the public, industry, and the economy. Let’s make sure we set aside our political concerns and put greater emphasis on protecting creativity, people, and society. When we only think about who can win, in the end we all lose. It might not happen immediately, but it all comes to light in the end.
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