Key deadlines set out in President Trump's executive order targeting state AI laws have passed, with agencies failing to deliver on major steps that were due more than a month ago.

Why it matters: The missed deadlines are raising doubts about how forcefully the administration can follow through on its push to rein in states on AI regulation.

Driving the news: Three provisions that were due on March 11 per the December order have not been completed or publicly announced.

• The Federal Trade Commission was supposed to issue guidance on how consumer protection law applies to AI models, including when it could override state laws that "alter their truthful outputs."
• The Commerce Department was due to review and publish an evaluation of state AI laws and flag "onerous" ones that conflict with federal policy to the Justice Department's AI Litigation Task Force.
• Commerce was also ordered to set rules tying broadband funding to state AI laws, potentially cutting off funds to states with certain regulations.

The Federal Communications Commission is also tasked with considering whether to create a national AI reporting and transparency standard that would preempt conflicting state laws, but not until 90 days after those laws are identified.

What they're saying: "President Trump is ensuring the United States of America leads the world in Artificial Intelligence," White House spokesperson Liz Huston said in a statement. "The Trump Administration has implemented many bold and successful policy initiatives to advance the President's objectives."

• A White House official added that there will be more progress in the weeks and months ahead.
• "Our policy statement will come out very soon," FTC director of public affairs Joseph Simonson wrote in an email.
• Spokespeople for the FCC and Commerce did not respond to requests for comment.

The big picture: "The Trump administration is still very much trying to find its footing when it comes to regulating AI, and rhetorically, they have adopted a position that is very pro-deregulation. But that doesn't tell the whole story," said Matthew Ferraro, a partner at Crowell & Moring.

• Tech companies and state legislators have been especially eager to see what state-level laws the DOJ task force will go after, especially as the White House intervenes in red states to alter AI bills it doesn't like and dozens of states continue to consider AI and chatbot legislation across the country.

Between the lines: The White House calls to state legislators are creating an ad hoc, whack-a-mole approach to legislative cohesion in the place of an actual federal policy.

Reality check: These are tough assignments on a tight timeline for agencies looking to come up with novel policies that will stand up in court.

The intrigue: One key part of the order, a legislative recommendation for a uniform, federal AI policy framework preempting state laws, came out last month.

• More a list of priorities than a concrete, prescriptive plan, it's a four-page starting point meant for Congress to see through and send to the president's desk.
• As Axios previously reported, it will be difficult for congressional Republicans to square everything the White House wants in one bill that gets bipartisan support.
• House Republicans this week unveiled data privacy bills and said they plan to tackle AI next, noting it's still a major priority this Congress.

The bottom line: Without forward motion from the agencies or lawmakers, one of the biggest Trump administration AI priorities of knocking down state-level AI laws remains a distant goal.

Both Anthropic and OpenAI posted their biggest-ever lobbying spends in the first quarter of 2026, with Anthropic at $1.6 million and OpenAI at $1 million, per federal lobbying disclosures.

Why it matters: The two biggest frontier AI model companies hardly spent time in Washington just years ago. Now, they're joining the ranks of more seasoned tech companies shelling out millions a quarter on lobbying.

Driving the news: Both companies still don't spend nearly as much as their Big Tech counterparts, but their numbers have inched up quarter by quarter, recently breaking the million-dollar mark.

• Meta topped Big Tech lobbying spending once again in the first quarter of 2026, spending $7.1 million, with Amazon and Google trailing behind at $4.4 million and $2.9 million, respectively.

Stunning stat: Anthropic spent $1.6 million on lobbying in the first quarter of this year, compared with just $360,000 in the first quarter of 2025. That's a 344% year-over-year increase for the quarter.

• OpenAI spent $1 million compared with $560,000 in the first quarter of 2025 — a 78.6% year-over-year increase for the quarter.

What's inside: Anthropic had a rough first quarter of 2026, battling with the Pentagon over red lines and acceptable uses for its technology in classified settings as Trump administration officials accused the company of being "woke."

• As those fights continue in court, the company is flooding the zone in Washington on Capitol Hill and keeping agencies in the loop on their latest models.
• Most notably, the topics of AI procurement, Defense Department procurement, supply chain risk and "acceptable use policy," the heart of Anthropic's dispute with the Pentagon, are listed as topics the company spoke to lawmakers about in Q1 2026.
• Also listed: AI and national security, export controls, legislation, energy infrastructure, supply chain and permitting.

OpenAI, in its most expensive quarter yet, talked to lawmakers about AI and copyright, cybersecurity, cloud computing and infrastructure, per its filing.

• Meta, per its filing, focused on data privacy, security, encryption and cross-border data flows along with AI issues.
• Both Meta and Google lobbied on kids' online safety bills, copyright, chips and AI workforce training.
• Microsoft homed in on AI in education, tax, digital trade, kids' online safety, software patents, cloud and copyright.

Both AMD and Nvidia lobbied on export control rule changes and kept spending steady from last year's levels.

What we're watching: Expect AI-specific companies and interests to keep upping their spending in Washington, even as more traditional Big Tech companies remain the biggest overall spenders with massive lobbying portfolios.

• For example, the Data Center Coalition posted its biggest-ever lobbying quarter, spending $420,000 compared with Q1 2025's $123,000 as data center buildouts become a political hot topic.

AI is no longer just a research tool in Washington, D.C. — it's starting to shape how policymakers form opinions, according to Penta Group data shared exclusively with Axios.

Why it matters: Staffers are the latest to lean on AI for guidance, signaling its growing role in shaping decisions across markets, consumer behavior and now public policy.

By the numbers: Penta Group surveyed 2,060 senior staffers across Congress, the administration and federal agencies, and found that 27% say AI informs their perspective on a topic — up from 17% in 2025 — putting AI on par with traditional sources like experts and web searches.

• Six in 10 policymakers say they use AI at least once a day and are most likely to turn to it for background research on policies and issues (42%), writing and editing statements, memos, and reports (40%), and brainstorming (34%).
• Meanwhile, roughly 3 in 10 say they use AI to help gather background information.

The intrigue: Republican policymakers are about 1.2 times as likely as Democratic policymakers to use AI daily — 69% compared with 57%.

• Republicans are also more likely to find AI helpful in shaping their perspectives (30% vs. 23% for Democrats).
• Meanwhile, Democrats are more than twice as likely to avoid AI entirely. 13% say they don't use it in their daily work, compared with 5% of Republicans.

What we're watching: The partisan gap in AI use could start to shape how lawmakers understand — and ultimately regulate — the technology, with implications for issues such as governance and competition policy.

House Republicans this week rolled out two data privacy bills to protect personal and financial data and override state laws.

Why it matters: Congress has been trying to pass a federal data privacy law for years, but fights over preempting state laws keep derailing efforts and are now spilling into AI policy debates.

Driving the news: The SECURE Data Act and the GUARD Financial Data Act "will provide the American people more control over their data and set clear rules," per memos from the House Energy and Commerce and Financial Services committees.

Between the lines: The new effort is happening as personal data becomes even more valuable and potentially compromised in the AI era.

Keep reading.