Governor warns President Trump and Republicans in Congress of serious consequences for kids and families if they proceed with efforts to preempt state AI laws and punish states like Wisconsin for tackling harmful uses of the emerging technology
MADISON — Gov. Tony Evers today released a letter urging President Donald J. Trump and Republicans in U.S. Congress to stop any federal efforts designed to threaten, preempt, punish, or undermine states like Wisconsin that have laws on the books designed to keep kids and families safe from harmful uses of AI, highlighting several recent bipartisan efforts to enact common-sense policies in Wisconsin to address harmful uses of the emerging technology. The governor’s letter comes as news broke in recent days regarding the president signing a new executive order relating to AI aimed at undermining state efforts to pass and enact policies designed to respond to challenges caused by the advent of AI, including even potentially trying to restrict federal funding for states that have certain AI policies.
“As elected officials, I would hope that you and your Republican colleagues would agree that we have a responsibility and an obligation to ensure measured and important steps are taken to address dangerous and harmful effects caused by emerging technologies like AI, most especially to prevent people and kids from being exploited,” wrote Gov. Evers in a letter to President Trump. “Indeed, I am proud to report that Wisconsin has been leading the way on this effort—and doing so in bipartisan fashion. In recent years, Wisconsin has taken bipartisan steps to implement safeguards for specific problematic uses of AI, including cracking down on AI-generated sexually explicit materials and political ads.
“Mr. President, it is breathtaking for you to threaten to punish and withhold federal funding from states like Wisconsin for taking decisive, bipartisan action to pass common-sense policies that protect Wisconsinites from being potentially being sexually exploited using AI-generated materials or being deceived by political ads made using AI,” Gov. Evers’ letter to the president continues. “Put simply, doing so could reopen the door for bad actors in Wisconsin to resume reprehensible behavior we have worked to criminalize while leaving fewer options for local law enforcement to be able to hold those bad actors accountable. This is an untenable and unacceptable result.”
Due to the lack of federal regulation of AI, states across the country have begun enacting important safeguards around the use of AI images and video, including Wisconsin, where basic, common-sense AI proposals have garnered bipartisan support. Last March, Gov. Evers signed 2023 Wisconsin Act 123, a bipartisan law that requires disclosures regarding content generated by artificial intelligence in political advertisements, and 2023 Wisconsin Act 224, which expands Wisconsin’s existing prohibitions on child pornography to include the receiving, distributing, producing, or possessing of virtual child pornography, often created using AI. Additionally, most recently, Gov. Evers signed a bipartisan bill, Senate Bill 33, now 2025 Wisconsin Act 34, which bans the posting, publishing, or distribution of “deepfake” images created using AI with the intent to coerce, harass, or intimidate a person.
The governor’s letter notes Wisconsin’s recently passed AI-related laws, enacted with bipartisan support, are designed to protect Wisconsinites from potentially harmful uses of AI, including preventing kids and others from being sexually exploited, and raises serious concerns about any federal efforts by President Trump and the Trump Administration or by Republicans in Congress to attempt to preempt, punish, and undermine states that have taken steps to address concerning uses of AI.
In recent weeks, previous reporting and social media posts from the president have indicated that President Trump and Congressional Republicans have planned to renew efforts to implement a federal preemption of state AI regulations. It had also been reported that President Trump planned to sign an executive order aiming to prevent state regulation of AI and attempts to try and withhold federal funding from states based on their AI policies.
A copy of the governor’s letter to President Trump is available here, and a transcript of the letter is available below.
Dear Mr. President:
I write to urge you and Republican members of the U.S. Congress to abandon any efforts to preempt, punish, or undermine states, including Wisconsin, that have worked to enact reasonable, common-sense policies relating to artificial intelligence (“AI”) in an effort to protect our residents, including kids, from predatory behavior and bad actors.
Make no mistake: AI is a growing part of modern, everyday life in the 21st Century. AI, when harnessed appropriately, has the opportunity to improve lives in the United States and the world over. At the same time, AI—as is the case for most emerging technologies—can have detrimental and perhaps unforeseen consequences that policymakers must work urgently to address as they arise.
As elected officials, I would hope that you and your Republican colleagues would agree that we have a responsibility and an obligation to ensure measured and important steps are taken to address dangerous and harmful effects caused by emerging technologies like AI, most especially to prevent people and kids from being exploited. Indeed, I am proud to report that Wisconsin has been leading the way on this effort—and doing so in bipartisan fashion.
In recent years, Wisconsin has taken bipartisan steps to implement safeguards for specific problematic uses of AI, including cracking down on AI-generated sexually explicit materials and political ads:
- In March 2024, I enacted 2023 Wisconsin Act 123, which requires political candidates or political entities to plainly state if their advertisements are generated using AI to help ensure AI-generated content is not used by nefarious actors in political ads to make false claims about candidates to deceive or misinform Wisconsin voters.
- I also enacted 2023 Wisconsin Act 224 last year, which expanded Wisconsin’s existing prohibitions on child pornography to include the receiving, distributing, producing, or possessing of virtual child pornography that is generated using AI.
- Additionally, in October I enacted 2025 Wisconsin Act 34 to ban the posting, publishing, or distribution of “deepfake” images created using AI with the intent to coerce, harass, or intimidate a person. As you may be aware, “deepfake” images are images in which a person’s body or voice has been digitally altered using AI, typically without their consent, that are used maliciously or to spread false information. This bill was inspired by a real-life situation in Wisconsin in which a woman’s photographs were allegedly modified using AI without her consent and reportedly used to harass her.
I am incredibly proud of the work Wisconsin has done to protect people and kids from very real and disturbing consequences we are seeing in certain situations due to the advent of AI. I am also deeply concerned by your recent comments and actions, as well as those by Republican members of Congress, that threaten to undermine, punish, or preempt the important steps that states like Wisconsin have taken to prevent AI’s harmful and unintended consequences.
For example, on Monday this week, you posted on social media saying, “There must be only One Rulebook if we are going to continue to lead in AI,” clearly suggesting that states, including Wisconsin, should not be taking action to respond to the real and concerning challenges we know AI presents for our kids, families, and communities. Additionally, the New York Times recently reported on a purported draft executive order your administration has been working on, which purportedly includes provisions directing the U.S. attorney general to sue states that have their own AI laws on the books. Even more alarming, your draft executive order apparently even suggests that your administration may try to withhold federal funding from states like Wisconsin because of the AI safeguards we have in place, which were passed with bipartisan support, including those designed to protect people and kids from being exploited and harassed.
I was optimistic earlier this year when attempts to include a 10-year ban on state AI regulations in your so-called ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ thankfully failed. However, your recent comments and intimations, as well as those by Republican members of Congress, have renewed serious concerns that new efforts may be afoot to attempt to override and supersede laws in Wisconsin and other states.
Mr. President, it is breathtaking for you to threaten to punish and withhold federal funding from states like Wisconsin for taking decisive, bipartisan action to pass common-sense policies that protect Wisconsinites from being potentially being sexually exploited using AI-generated materials or being deceived by political ads made using AI. Put simply, doing so could reopen the door for bad actors in Wisconsin to resume reprehensible behavior we have worked to criminalize while leaving fewer options for local law enforcement to be able to hold those bad actors accountable. This is an untenable and unacceptable result.
To be clear: if you, your administration, or Congressional Republicans make any attempt to preempt state laws like Wisconsin’s that create basic, common-sense AI safeguards, you will be making kids and families in Wisconsin less safe from dangerous and malicious misuses of AI.
Federal preemption of state AI regulation has faced—and continues to face—strong bipartisan opposition from state legislators, state attorneys general, and governors, and a recent poll shows Americans oppose new federal preemption of state AI regulations by a three-to-one margin. And for good reason: potentially trying to override bipartisan state laws or punishing states like Wisconsin that have enacted reasonable AI safeguards will let predators off the hook and make it harder for law enforcement to hold criminals accountable. I urge you, your administration, and Republicans in Congress to heed the calls from states, including Wisconsin, and abandon any efforts to undermine basic AI safeguards states like Wisconsin have passed to keep our kids, families, and communities safe.
Thank you kindly for your urgent attention to this matter.
Respectfully yours,
Tony Evers
Governor
An online version of this release is available here.
