Red-state AI regulation push has links to the Left

Published April 22, 2026 7:00am ET | Updated April 22, 2026 7:57am ET



Two groups with ties to the Left are engaged in coordinated campaigns to promote artificial intelligence regulation in three Republican-controlled states, public records show.

While President Donald Trump, himself generously supported by many tech interests, has voiced opposition to state-level AI regulation, some red-state leaders have nonetheless proposed laws to rein in the emerging technology. Nebraska, Tennessee, and Utah have attempted to buck the White House on this front. Encode AI and the Secure AI Project, nonprofit groups with staffing and financial ties to the Left, have had a hand in driving this divide between the Trump administration and each of these states.

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