Reports indicate that Congress is planning to insert a dangerous provision into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would impose a sweeping 10-year ban on state and local governments regulating artificial intelligence.
If passed, this ban would gut the authority of states to protect residents from algorithmic discrimination, AI-driven surveillance, deepfakes, AI-fueled fraud, and unaccountable automated decision-making in every aspect of daily life, from housing to healthcare to workplaces to policing.
Artificial intelligence is already being deployed in the financial system without meaningful accountability. We’ve documented the use of biased credit scoring algorithms, opaque underwriting systems, and predictive analytics that amplify redlining and discrimination. And the convergence of Big Tech, big banks, and big data pose growing threats to our privacy and financial security.
These AI tools harm low-income borrowers, renters, and workers, especially in Black, brown, and immigrant communities. Under this ban, states would have no power to investigate or intervene. The public would be unprotected from automation-fueled exclusion, surveillance, and exploitation. The companies deploying these systems would operate above any law not written in Washington, and we know Congress has failed to act for years.
Meanwhile, state-level laws are already making a difference, from Illinois to New York, California, and Maryland. Stripping them away now only benefits companies that profit from unchecked systems of harm. And it does so at the very moment AI is rapidly being deployed and is transforming, and destabilizing, every major system people rely on to access credit, jobs, education, and justice.
At its core, this provision is about power, who has it, and who gets to use it to protect the public. States can play a crucial role as first responders to new technologies. When federal action stalls, state legislatures, attorneys general, and local agencies step in. They have led on biometric privacy, automated hiring fairness, and tenant protections against algorithmic discrimination.
This ban would stop those efforts cold and set back AI accountability work for a generation. The tech industry knows that federal gridlock is its best shield, and that’s exactly why it wants state protections preempted before they can take hold. We must protect state power to regulate AI now.
The fight over this legislation is far from over. In fact, Trump is worried he does not have the votes and has threatened an executive order to sue states over AI regulations if the state and local AI oversight ban is not approved. Congress should stand strong and oppose this legislation.
Click ‘START WRITING’ to sign and send a direct message urging your U.S. House Representative to oppose any provision that would impose a moratorium on AI regulation.