Preemption, Explained

a16z AI Policy Brief · Nov 24, 2025 · 9m · transcript

There may be no more important debate in AI policy right now than how power to regulate AI should be divided between the federal and state governments.

We first wrote about the respective roles of Congress and state governments in early 2025, as we saw states throughout the country introducing bills that would regulate how AI models are built. Now, with speculation about potential Congressional action to clarify the role of the federal government in regulating AI, the same questions proliferate: What can Congress regulate? What can states regulate? And where are the constitutional limits on…