H.R. 5388: American Artificial Intelligence Leadership and Uniformity Act

H.R. 5388, the American Artificial Intelligence Leadership and Uniformity Act, is built around two big ideas: move quickly on a national AI strategy and stop states from creating their own separate AI rulebooks for a while. The bill orders top White House officials to send Congress a National Artificial Intelligence Action Plan not later than 30 days after enactment, then provide annual updates starting 1 year after the initial submission. That is an unusually fast deadline for a government-wide technology strategy, and it signals that the bill's focus is speed, coordination, and national consistency.

The preemption piece is the most politically explosive part. For a 5-year period beginning on the date of enactment, states and local governments could not enforce laws or regulations that limit, restrict, or regulate AI models, AI systems, or automated decision systems engaged in interstate commerce. The bill defines an "artificial intelligence model" as a software component that uses computational, statistical, or machine-learning techniques to produce outputs from a defined set of inputs. It defines an "artificial intelligence system" even more broadly as any data system, hardware, tool, or utility that operates, in whole or in part, using artificial intelligence. And it defines an "automated decision system" as any computational process derived from machine learning, statistical modeling, data analytics, or AI that issues a simplified output, including a score, classification, or recommendation, to materially influence or replace human decision-making.

The bill is not a total wipeout of state power. It allows states to keep enforcing generally applicable laws when AI is treated the same way as comparable non-AI systems. It also preserves reasonable, cost-based fees or bonds if AI is treated in the same manner as comparable non-AI systems, preserves provisions carrying criminal penalties, preserves generally applicable criminal laws, and allows state procurement rules for a state's own use so long as those rules do not become de facto regulation of private companies. States could also pass laws that remove legal barriers or streamline licensing, permitting, routing, zoning, procurement, or reporting for AI deployment.

At the federal level, the bill pushes the executive branch to review all actions taken under Executive Order 14110, issued October 30, 2023, and Executive Order 14179, issued January 23, 2025, and suspend, revise, or rescind actions that conflict with the bill's policy direction. At the same time, it limits new federal overreach by saying nothing in the act gives agencies new authority to impose substantive design, performance, data-handling, documentation, or civil-liability requirements beyond what current law already allows. In plain English: the bill tries to clear out conflicting state rules, pressure the White House to produce a national plan fast, and stop agencies from claiming broad new regulatory powers just because AI is involved.