December 12, 2025
You may have seen this photo floating around the internet today. It’s a photo of President Trump walking through the white house with the help of a walker.
This image if fake. It is AI generated.
It originally showed up on this X account with the caption – an image has leaked showing Trump using a walker moments after he signed an executive order banning states from regulating AI.
Now – while the AI photo is fake. It was probably done to prove a point. Because it is real that President Trump did sign this executive order yesterday which does in fact block states from enforcing their own laws and regulations on artificial intelligence.
The president’s position is – there should be one national AI framework for artificial intelligence regulation not piecemeal regulation through each of the states. So what does the president think a nationwide AI regulation framework should look like? What should the rules be? The order says “it is the policy of the United States to sustain and enhance the United States’ global ai dominance through a minimally burdensome national policy framework for ai.” Trump’s order says “AI companies must be free to innovate without cumbersome regulation. But excessive state regulation thwarts this imperative.”
The first several sections of the executive order directs his Department of Justice to sue states that have their own AI regulations and laws that are not consistent with Trump’s policy and directs the Secretary of Commerce to identify conflicting state AI laws and within 90 days those states may have federal funding pulled. Further down in the order Trump’s order directs his administration to prepare a proposed AI law that can be presented to congress that includes safety protections among some other minor things.
Now – there are a few things that raise a few eyebrows about this AI policy. First – is the fact that Trump is awfully chummy with all of the big tech CEOs and billionaires who are in charge of all this AI innovation. So this could be seen as a gift to them to pull back laws that regulate them and instead allow them to run rampant. Of course – when government gets involved – too much regulation can stifle innovation and growth. But at the same time – having a completely hands off approach can also lead to AI companies not being held accountable for the tech they create that could eventually hurt people in real life.
Here’s the thing – states like California and Florida yes – even Trump ally Ron DeSantis has been on the front lines of trying to regulate AI and he says Trump’s executive order does not and cannot preempt state laws. The only entity that maybe can do that is congress – but you guessed it – congress has done squat to regulate big tech and AI. So if Trump’s DOJ does come after these states with a-i regulations – expect a very nasty legal fight.
But why should you care? Well – if it hasn’t come for you yet – it will. We’ve heard of AI chat bots encouraging young people to take their own lives. Maybe you’ll be fooled by an ai generated image like the one of trump with the walker –or maybe this will happen to you. This is an AI generated Lisa that is reporting fake news on TikTok. And another one that’s selling supplements. You know I don’t do any of that, but when you’re mindlessly scrolling, you may not be paying attention enough and you may fall for it. And here’s the kicker. I can’t do anything about it. TikTok has so far refused to take these accounts down. When I report them, they just respond with – there’s no violation. Even though their community guideline policy clearly states deepfakes are not allowed.
But this isn’t about me. It’s about how easy it is to make this AI slop. And how easy it is for you – especially if you’re mindlessly scrolling to fall for it. And how there are no consequences for those who produce it or the companies that create the tools but there are big consequences for those who are subjected to it. This is also about the fact that congress has failed to do its job. There are no internet privacy laws for any of us and there is almost no accountability for these big companies.
Read the AI Executive Order here.
See the original AI photo here.
