By Guardian staff reporter
Publication Date: 2026-05-20 10:00:00
In April of this year, the US Department of Justice joined Elon Musk’s xAI and sued the state of Colorado to overturn its AI anti-discrimination law.
When the federal government sides with a billionaire and fights against a state that wants to protect its residents from AI discrimination, it’s not just a Colorado story. That’s everyone’s story.
The Justice Department’s lawsuit is part of a coordinated federal effort to reframe AI consumer protections as ideological incursions. In July 2025, Donald Trump signed an executive order to “prevent woke AI,” equating bias reduction measures with a left-wing “woke” agenda that suppresses free speech and truth. The federal national policy framework launched in March included a push to pre-empt state AI laws, targeting Colorado’s law. The Justice Department’s intervention in Colorado marks the first time the federal government has attempted to intervene in a lawsuit challenging a state AI law.
The AI law in question, Senate Bill 205, was about…
