US AI Regulation: 1,200+ State Bills Active, Still No Federal Framework
More than 1,200 state-level AI bills were introduced across the United States in 2025 — with no unified federal regulatory framework established. Researchers including Jeff Sonnenfeld (Yale SOM) and Gary Marcus (NYU CSMAP) published a three-stage framework in Fortune: first, interpretive guidance from existing authorities; second, narrow legislation targeting high-harm vectors such as election disinformation; third, regulatory sandboxes for high-risk domains including national security. The framework evaluates legislation against four axes: national security, harm reduction, product innovation, and free competition.
Why It Matters
The 1,200+ state-bill patchwork creates compliance fragmentation that disproportionately affects companies deploying AI products across US state lines. The absence of a federal framework accelerates state-level divergence, creating the kind of regulatory uncertainty that historically delays enterprise AI adoption.