Mobilizing for Techno-Economic War, Part 7: Transforming Regulatory Policy | Reports & Briefings | Sep 21, 2026

ITIF has published a report dated 21 September 2026 titled 'Mobilizing for Techno-Economic War, Part 7: Transforming Regulatory Policy.' The report is listed on itif.org under reports and briefings. Its central argument is that Congress should impose a five-year moratorium on state artificial intelligence laws and state children's online safety laws. Under the proposal, that five-year halt on state legislation would run while Congress works toward a national AI framework and national children's online safety legislation.

The report states that Congress should first preempt what it describes as the growing patchwork of state AI, privacy and children's online safety legislation. ITIF characterises that patchwork as a significant threat to American competitiveness. Preemption of the state-level measures is presented as the initial action, with national-level legislation to follow it. In the material summarised, the report does not set out the contents of the national framework or of the national children's online safety legislation it proposes.

The publication is the seventh instalment of a series titled 'Mobilizing for Techno-Economic War.' The report treats the moratorium and the national framework as sequential steps rather than as alternatives to one another, with the five-year halt on state laws described as covering the period during which national legislation is developed. The stated basis for the proposal is the effect of the state patchwork of AI, privacy and children's online safety legislation on American competitiveness. The report's framing centres on American competitiveness in relation to both the moratorium and the national legislation that would follow it.