America needs a consistent national approach to AI regulation

On May 27th, the Illinois House of Representatives passed legislation, SB 315, which would require frontier AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic to create, publish, and annually update internal policy frameworks to ensure that the AI models they build are safe and avoid severe or catastrophic risks.  Importantly, the bill also mandates that the frameworks developed by AI companies be audited annually by an independent third-party to ensure compliance with the requirements in the bill – a first for AI legislation anywhere in the country.

This may sound like a good idea in theory, but there’s a major problem: no infrastructure currently exists, in Illinois or anywhere else, to credibly and reliably conduct the type of independent audits required under the legislation – no licensing requirements, no certification criteria, no broadly recognized oversight standards for third-parties to perform AI compliance audits.  Without a clear and trusted evaluation framework, the required third-party audits would create inconsistent and even meaningless evaluations, along with enormous uncertainty among AI companies, rather than enhancing consumer protection and AI safety.

More fundamentally, SB 315 is the latest example of why America needs consistent national guardrails to govern the development of AI.  Indeed, in an interview with NBC news, the bill’s lead sponsor in the Illinois House, Democratic Rep. Daniel Didech, stated: “The states shouldn’t be doing this.  The best way to regulate these types of catastrophic risks would be a federal approach.”

He’s exactly right.  A complex patchwork of 50 competing and inconsistent state frameworks of conflicting definitions, limitations, and requirements is not only immensely difficult for AI developers and businesses using AI to navigate, it’s also a recipe for mass confusion, compliance errors, and regulatory opportunism – all of which is inherently dangerous.

According to MultiState, which tracks state and local AI legislation, 1,200 bills were introduced across all 50 states in 2025.  As of March 2026, state lawmakers in 45 states have already introduced 1,561 AI-related bills.  If the goal is to ensure the safe development of AI, legislative chaos by states is not the answer.

During the debate of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” last summer, Congress considered a provision that would have prohibited states from “limiting, restricting, or otherwise regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems entered into interstate commerce” for a period of ten years.  Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, a proponent of the moratorium, argued that state regulation of AI is a threat to the continued development of AI and to U.S. technological leadership.

Other Members of Congress objected to the provision.  On June 3, 2025, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) posted on X that the proposed moratorium on state regulation “is a violation of state rights,” and that giving the development of AI “free rein and tying states hands is potentially dangerous.”

America needs a consistent national approach to AI regulation for the reasons identified by both Senator Cruz and Rep. Greene.  AI is, indeed, a transformational technology and America must remain the world’s AI leader – and AI must be developed safely, which requires clear and consistent national standards and guardrails.

The work to establish national AI standards began under the previous Administration.  In October of 2022, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a Blueprint for an AI Bill Of Rights.  On January of 2023, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) released an AI Risk Management Framework.  In April of 2023, the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s (NTIA) requested public comment regarding AI accountability measures and policies.  On October 30, 2023, President Biden issued Executive Order 14110, entitled “Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence.”

President Trump issued his own Executive Order on AI on January 23, 2025.  On June 2nd, the president signed a second AI executive order that asks technology companies to voluntarily provide federal government officials access to new AI models for a 30-day review period before releasing the models to the public.

Both chambers of Congress have also been active.  In May of 2024, the bipartisan U.S. Senate AI Working Group released a report entitled “Driving U.S. Innovation in Artificial Intelligence,” outlining their priorities and recommendations for regulating AI.  In December of 2024, the House Bipartisan Task Force on AI released its own report presenting key findings, “guiding principles, forward-looking recommendations, and policy proposals to ensure America continues to lead the world in responsible AI innovation.”

And legislation to implement federal guidance is already being prepared.  On September 10, 2025, Senator Cruz introduced a new legislative framework for AI, as well as a bill that would create a regulatory “sandbox” for AI developers.  In the House, Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-CA), the Republican co-chair of the House Bipartisan Task Force, is currently working on his own bill to codify recommendations from the Bipartisan Task Force, and establish guidelines for state and federal regulations.

The work to establish a consistent federal approach to AI regulation is bipartisan and spans successive Administrations and Congresses.  A coherent national policy framework will permit the continued development and implementation of AI, while also avoiding the inherently dangerous policy complexity, uncertainty, and confusion of an uncoordinated state-based approach.

In doing so, a national AI framework will also promote public confidence in the safe development of AI, which, at the end of the day, is the essential context for realizing the full potential of this truly historic and transformative technology.

John R. Dearie is president of the Center for American Entrepreneurship in Washington, DC.