Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz is pushing forward with a markup to establish a federal artificial intelligence regulation framework, one designed to keep the government’s hands relatively off the steering wheel while AI companies build the car.
The SANDBOX Act and Cruz’s regulatory vision
Cruz first unveiled his legislative framework for US AI policy on September 10, 2025, introducing the SANDBOX Act (S. 2750) as the opening salvo. The bill’s core mechanism is straightforward: it would create a federal regulatory sandbox that permits AI developers to apply for temporary waivers from federal regulations while testing new technologies.
Cruz has explicitly modeled his approach after the light-touch internet regulations from President Clinton’s era. The argument goes something like this: the US became the global leader in internet technology precisely because Washington didn’t strangle the industry with rules before anyone understood what it could become. Cruz wants to run the same playbook for AI.
Here’s the thing about Cruz’s framework that makes it particularly consequential: it aims to preempt state-level AI laws entirely. Instead of companies navigating a patchwork of 50 different regulatory regimes, there would be one federal standard.
