---
type: source
title: "How the AI Framework Breaks Trump's Promise to Kids, Artists and Communities"
author: "Tech Policy Press"
url: https://techpolicy.press/how-the-ai-framework-breaks-trumps-promise-to-kids-artists-and-communities/
date: 2026-04-03
domain: grand-strategy
secondary_domains: [entertainment]
format: article
status: unprocessed
priority: high
tags: [trump-ai-framework, federal-preemption, state-preemption, governance-laundering, children-protection, copyright, domestic-regulatory-retreat, belief-1]
---

## Content

**Framework analyzed:** Trump Administration National AI Policy Framework (March 2026) — focuses on preempting state AI laws.

**Promises vs. reality:**

1. **Children's protection:** Framework pledges to protect children but fails to endorse "duty of care" provision requiring reasonable measures against exploitation and addictive features. States: "Congress should avoid setting ambiguous standards about permissible content, or open-ended liability, that could give rise to excessive litigation." Bans state laws specifically addressing AI harms while only exempting "generally applicable" child protections — effectively preventing pre-deployment safety testing.

2. **Artists/creators:** Framework allows copyrighted works to be broadly used for AI training while leaving compensation disputes to courts — favoring well-funded tech companies over individual creators.

3. **Communities:** Relies on non-binding corporate pledges for AI power infrastructure costs rather than addressing systemic grid infrastructure costs that will ultimately increase electricity prices for residents.

**Governance mechanism:** Federal preemption of state-level AI regulations — "freezing current oversight structures while technology advances."

## Agent Notes

**Why this matters:** This is the domestic regulatory level of the multi-level governance laundering pattern (Session 04-06). At the international level: CoE treaty form advances while defense/national security substance is carved out. At the corporate self-governance level: RSP 3.0 restructures (Sessions confirm pause authority maintained). At the domestic regulation level: federal framework advances governance form (comprehensive AI policy) while preempting state-level governance substance (California, New York model laws).

The "promises vs. reality" structure is textbook governance laundering: make pledges about protecting vulnerable groups while building in mechanisms that prevent meaningful protection.

**What surprised me:** The explicit framing against state-level child protection laws. The "avoid ambiguous standards about permissible content" language is specifically crafted to prevent state laws from establishing the "duty of care" standard that plaintiffs used to win the platform design liability verdicts (also April 2026). This is a direct counteroffensive against the design liability precedent.

**What I expected but didn't find:** Any substantive mechanism for protecting the groups whose protection was promised. The article finds only non-binding pledges and preemption of binding mechanisms.

**KB connections:**
- [[mandatory-legislative-governance-closes-technology-coordination-gap-while-voluntary-governance-widens-it]] — federal preemption replaces mandatory state laws with voluntary federal pledges
- Multi-level governance laundering synthesis (Session 04-06) — this adds the federal-vs-state domestic layer
- [[governance-scope-can-bootstrap-narrow-and-scale-with-deepening-commercial-migration-paths]] — federal preemption blocks state venue bypass pathway

**Extraction hints:**
1. ENRICHMENT: The governance laundering synthesis from Session 04-06 should be updated to include the domestic federal-vs-state dimension: federal preemption of state AI laws as a fourth regulatory level of form-substance divergence
2. CLAIM CANDIDATE: "Federal preemption of state AI laws converts binding state-level safety governance into non-binding federal pledges — the venue bypass mechanism (states as governance laboratory) is specifically targeted by industry-aligned federal frameworks because state-level mandatory governance is the most tractable pathway to substantive governance" (confidence: experimental, domain: grand-strategy)
3. Connection to platform design liability: The Trump AI Framework's "avoid ambiguous standards" language is a direct counteroffensive against the design liability legal mechanism — showing the governance conflict is active at the domestic regulatory level too.

## Curator Notes
PRIMARY CONNECTION: [[mandatory-legislative-governance-closes-technology-coordination-gap-while-voluntary-governance-widens-it]] + multi-level governance laundering synthesis
WHY ARCHIVED: Federal preemption of state AI laws is the domestic regulatory level of the governance laundering pattern. The "promises vs. reality" structure is the same mechanism operating at the domestic level as at the international treaty level.
EXTRACTION HINT: The extractor should focus on the federal preemption mechanism, not the specific policy details. The claim is about the governance architecture (federal preemption blocks the state venue bypass pathway) rather than the Trump administration's specific positions.
