Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) didn't mince words when he called President Donald Trump's decision to walk away from his own artificial intelligence executive order a “failure.” His warning? Without federal oversight, the U.S. could lose its edge in tech.

According to Kelly's Friday post on X, the order—based on published reports—would have set up a voluntary process for government agencies to check certain frontier AI systems for risks before they hit the public. It also would have required AI developers to hand over advanced models to the government 90 days before release, with early access for critical infrastructure groups like banks.

But even that modest step got scrapped after pushback from major tech executives, Kelly said.

“America cannot lead in AI if our policy is determined by whichever billionaire gets the President on the phone last,” Kelly said.

Trump, however, framed the decision differently. “We're leading China, we're leading everybody, and I don't want to do anything that's going to get in the way of that lead,” Trump said.

The reversal is a sharp turn from Trump's December 2025 executive order, which targeted “excessive state regulation” of AI and launched a Department of Justice task force to challenge state laws that clash with federal policy.

Kelly, a former NASA astronaut and Navy veteran, is pushing his own legislative alternative through his “AI for America” plan. He argues Congress needs to step in with “real, forward-looking policy on AI.”

In his post, Kelly also warned that AI will shape the future of cybersecurity, the energy grid, and U.S. competition with China—areas where getting policy right “matters for families in Arizona and across the country.”

For now, the withdrawal leaves the U.S. without a federal framework for evaluating advanced AI systems before they're deployed publicly.