How Are States Regulating AI?

State legislatures have moved quickly on artificial intelligence. By March 2026, lawmakers in 45 states had introduced more than 1,500 AI-related bills, covering issues ranging from automated decision-making and deepfakes to child safety, government use and frontier AI systems.

Congress has not enacted a comprehensive federal AI law, so states continue to play a major role in determining how AI is governed in the United States.

Several states are taking notably different approaches.

California regulates aspects of frontier AI development. Its SB 53 requires large frontier-model developers to disclose safety frameworks and report certain critical safety incidents.

New York's RAISE Act establishes transparency and incident-reporting requirements for large frontier-model developers.

Texas's Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act establishes statewide rules for certain uses of AI, including disclosure requirements for government agencies and health care providers and prohibitions on specified uses.

Colorado replaced its original 2024 AI Act in 2026 with a new framework focused on automated decision-making technologies used in consequential decisions. The new requirements are scheduled to take effect January 1, 2027.

A major unresolved question is how much authority states will retain if Congress establishes a national AI framework.

The Trump administration has called for federal legislation that would preempt some state AI laws it considers burdensome, while preserving certain traditional state powers, including consumer protection, child protection, zoning and regulation of states' own use of AI.

Congress has not yet enacted a comprehensive national AI law. The debate is therefore no longer simply about whether AI should be regulated. It is also about which level of government gets to set the rules — Washington, the states, or both.