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Virginia, like other states, is trying to navigate the thorny landscape of setting artificial intelligence rules without getting caught up in President Donald Trump's crosshairs.

Most of the AI bills proposed by the General Assembly during the 2026 session were pushed aside over concerns that Trump would make good on his threat to sue and withhold broadband funding from states that pass laws stifling the technology's growth.

AI has an ever-growing number of uses, from helping people finish simple tasks like writing grocery lists to detecting diseases sooner. Its risks have been documented, including chatbots that have encouraged users to harm themselves or other people.

As Virginia's Joint Commission on Technology and Science grapples with developing future AI policies that don't conflict with Trump's executive actions, some members said they disagreed with the state's slow process.

"In my opinion, we failed last session," state Sen. Stella Pekarsky (D–Fairfax) said at the commission's May 6 meeting.

She added: "We failed to pass the chatbot protections. We failed to pass protections of deepfakes and AI in our politics and in our campaigning. If we fail, that's on us at the end of the day."

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