President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social account on Tuesday to slam state-level regulation of artificial intelligence, bizarrely claiming that tech companies were being forced to deliver "woke" and pro-"diversity" messages with their language models.
"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 Growth Engine," wrote Trump. "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," Trump continued. "We can do this in a way that protects children AND prevents censorship!"
It is unclear what Trump is referring to, but it comes as he has waged a war on all federal regulatory fronts against not just governments but also corporations that use diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to promote a range of viewpoints and backgrounds in decision-making.
It also comes after Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill," which slashed trillions of dollars in taxes on corporations and the wealthy while making deep cuts to Medicaid and food assistance, came under fire for a provision that would have banned states from regulating AI for 10 years. This was stripped out of the final bill amid a backlash from even some Republicans, as a number of even pro-Trump lawmakers, like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), are fearful of the consequences of unregulated AI.
Artificial intelligence models have resulted in massive economic growth that has served to offset a broader economic cooldown in recent years. But concerns mount about misuse of the technology, ranging from the proliferation of plagiarized and so-called "slop content" breaking the internet's ability to convey information, to studies that suggest people overrelying on AI for daily tasks are literally losing brain function.
Trump has himself come under fire for sharing racist AI-generated depictions of Democratic politicians.
