FCC Chair Praises Trump Order On National AI Standards

With the FCC poised to play a major part in President Donald Trump’s new Executive Order on artificial intelligence, agency Chairman Brendan Carr is calling it a decisive step to limit what he describes as “ideological bias” and excessive state interference.

The order empowers Carr to begin a FCC rulemaking within 90 days that could establish a single national reporting and disclosure standard for AI models that would preempt conflicting state laws. It also authorizes the Department of Justice to challenge state-level AI statutes, ties certain Commerce Department broadband funds to state compliance, and forms a new AI Litigation Task Force to coordinate enforcement.

In a statement, Carr said, “President Trump’s historic Executive Order on artificial intelligence promotes America’s leadership in AI and advances our nation’s economic and national security interests. It does so by targeting excessive state regulations that would not only hold America back but insert ideological bias into AI models. President Trump’s decisive action also ensures a policy framework that protects children, prevents online censorship, respects copyrights, and safeguards communities.”

He added that the FCC “welcomes President Trump’s direction that the agency initiate a proceeding to determine whether to adopt a Federal reporting and disclosure standard for AI models that preempts conflicting State laws.”

The executive order follows months of legislative conflict between Congress and the White House over AI authority. For broadcasters, the new directive could fundamentally reshape how AI-generated material, including political ads, synthetic voices, and deepfake audio, is regulated and disclosed on-air.

For example, the order and Carr’s endorsement came the same week New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed two SAG-AFTRA–backed AI bills establishing post-mortem publicity rights and mandating advertiser disclosure when using synthetic performers. Union officials hailed the measures as a national model for creative worker protections. Those rules now face uncertainty.

The parallel developments underscore a widening divide between state and federal approaches to regulating AI in media.