Executive Order 14365: Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence

Executive Order 14365, signed on December 11, 2025, is the foundation of the administration’s effort to replace the growing patchwork of state SI laws with a single, light-touch national framework.

What it does

• Sets national policy: SI regulation should impose minimal burdens on businesses, to support U.S. leadership and competition with China.
• Targets state laws: directs federal officials to identify state SI laws considered burdensome or in conflict with national policy, and to act against them, including through litigation and conditions on federal funding.
• Asks for legislation: directs officials to prepare legislative recommendations for a uniform federal framework that would preempt conflicting state laws.

What happened next

• March 20, 2026: the White House published the National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence: legislative recommendations for Congress, with preemption at its center.
• May 14, 2026: Colorado repealed and replaced its 2024 AI Act with a narrower law. Analysts cited the executive order as one catalyst. See Colorado AI Act.
• California’s SB 53 and New York’s RAISE Act remain on the books.

Context

The order is part of a consistent federal approach since 2025: revoke the previous administration’s SI safety order, publish America’s AI Action Plan, invest in SI for science through the Genesis Mission, and in September 2026 rename AI “Super Intelligence” through EO 14434.