- Utah Senate President says Trump administration "backed away" on challenge state's AI laws.
- Utah lawmakers say decision to preserve regulations came after discussion with White House.
- The federal government may model its approach to AI regulation after Utah, one lawmaker said.
Utah may have won over the Trump administration on the state’s unique approach to regulating artificial intelligence.
Utah Senate President Stuart Adams told the Deseret News/KSL Editorial Board on Tuesday state lawmakers convinced White House counterparts to leave Utah’s AI policies alone. And now, Congress may follow Utah’s lead.
“When we showed them the fact that we have a way to allow AI technology to move very rapidly, but embed in it a regulatory scheme, it started to make sense to them that, ‘Hold on a minute, you can do both,’” Adams said.
In December, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to address the motley patchwork of state AI laws by creating an AI litigation task force and blocking broadband funding for states with “cumbersome regulation.”
Utah lawmakers, including former Google employee Rep. Doug Fiefia, voiced concern that Trump’s order would undermine the state’s innovative AI regulations that aim to protect consumers without stifling innovation.
In 2023, Utah passed groundbreaking legislation to form a state AI policy lab that garnered international attention by providing liability protection for AI companies as the state works with them to develop pro-growth AI regulations.
This past legislative session, lawmakers placed guardrails on the use of AI chatbots for mental health treatment, expanded prohibitions on AI abuse of personal identity and established AI disclosure requirements for businesses.
Why Trump administration changed course
While Utah lawmakers feared Trump’s order could preempt Utah’s law through a court challenge, and leave the state with very few regulations on rapidly changing AI technology, Adams said Utah’s laws appear safe for now.
“I think they backed away because of what we’re doing,” Adams, R-Layton, said, later adding, “We’ve come up with a better way. And then they started to say, ‘Well, maybe that isn’t such a good idea for us to take control.’”
The agreement for Utah to continue with its current AI policies came after Utah legislative leadership engaged in “a lot of discussions” with “people inside the White House,” Adams said. “I think they started listening.”
In a separate interview with the Deseret News, Fiefia, who spearheaded Utah’s opposition to federal policies restricting AI regulation, agreed with Adams’ characterization of how the Trump administration has come to view Utah AI policy.
“We’re focused on protecting residents in narrow, high risk areas, while encouraging innovation,” Fiefia said. “That kind of balance is exactly what allows states and federal government to stay aligned. And I believe that the administration recognizes that Utah is doing exactly that.”
Fiefia added that this alignment extends beyond letting Utah continue its experiment with AI regulation on its own. He predicted that “our bills and our ideas and our approach to AI” will soon “be adopted in a federal framework.”