AI Laws by State (2026): What Every State Has Enacted

The 2026 bar covers only January through July 1, so it isn't a full year. At the same point in 2025, states had enacted 121 AI laws, which means the pace slowed a little in 2026.

AI was the busiest area of state tech lawmaking in 2025, with 159 laws against 74 on child online safety and 46 on privacy. Some laws land in more than one category.

MultiState uses a narrower definition and counts 144 laws from 1,208 bills. Deepfake restrictions make up 46% of them, while laws that put duties on private companies are 20%.

Election deepfake laws took off in 2024, jumping from 5 states to 21. The total reached 33 in 2026, but Hawaii's was struck down and Massachusetts's expired, leaving 31 in force.

Broad private-sector AI laws: who they cover and when they apply

Source: Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, Governor Newsom signs SB 53, advancing California's world-leading artificial intelligence industry; Colorado General Assembly, SB26-189 Automated Decision-Making Technology; Kilpatrick Townsend, Connecticut Enacts New AI Legislation: What Businesses Need to Know About SB 5; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Illinois Enacts AI Safety Law, Becoming First State to Mandate Independent Third-Party Audits of Frontier AI Developers; New York State Senate, General Business Law Article 44-B, Responsible AI Safety and Education (RAISE) Act; Office of the Governor of New York, Governor Hochul Signs Nation-Leading Legislation to Require AI Frameworks for AI Frontier Models; Texas Legislature Online, HB 149 (89th Legislature, Regular Session) bill history; IAPP, US State AI Governance Legislation Tracker 2026 (chart PDF); Washington State Legislature, HB 1170: Informing users when content is developed or modified by artificial intelligence. Download as image

Federal pressure on state AI laws: Executive Order 14365

Source: Federal Register / GovInfo, Executive Order 14365, Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence (90 FR 58499). Download as image

Type of AI law enacted by state

• 8Broad private-sector AI law enacted
• 29Targeted AI laws only (election deepfakes or companion chatbots)
• 14None of the tracked law types

How many states have AI laws in 2026?

Nearly all of them, if you count every law that mentions AI. In 2025, 46 states enacted at least one AI law, according to the NYU Center on Technology Policy. That count includes narrow laws, such as new rules on deepfakes in political ads.

The pace cooled in 2026. By July 1, 29 states had enacted AI legislation, compared with 39 at the same point in 2025. The law count followed the same path: 109 this year against 121 last year. A slower year still adds up to a lot of new rules, and the second half of the year isn't counted yet.

Be careful when you compare trackers. MultiState counted 144 enacted AI laws in 2025, not 159, because it draws the line differently. Neither number is wrong. They answer slightly different questions, so stick to one source when you compare years.

Which states have broad AI laws that cover private companies?

This is the short list that matters most for businesses: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, New York, Texas, Utah and Washington. Even these laws come in very different shapes.

Some only reach the companies that build the largest models. California's SB 53, New York's RAISE Act and Illinois's SB 315 require big frontier developers to publish safety frameworks and report serious incidents. New York gives them 72 hours to report, with penalties up to $1 million for a first violation and $3 million after that. Illinois adds annual third-party audits for developers with over $500 million in revenue. If you run a design studio or a small agency, these laws are not aimed at you.

Others reach any business that uses automated tools to make big decisions about people. Colorado is the clearest example. Its rewritten law, SB 26-189, signed May 14, 2026, covers automated decision-making technology used in consequential decisions. Starting Jan 1, 2027, people must get notice, an explanation of an adverse decision within 30 days, and a chance at correction and human review. The state attorney general enforces it, and there is no new private right to sue.

Then there are disclosure laws. Utah requires generative AI disclosure in consumer transactions and regulated occupations. Washington's HB 1170 requires disclosure and provenance for AI-generated or modified content, effective Feb 1, 2027. Connecticut's SB 5 bundles several of these ideas, with dates staggered from Oct 1, 2026 to Jan 1, 2028.

Does the federal executive order cancel state AI laws?

No. Executive Order 14365, signed Dec 11, 2025, tells the Attorney General to set up an AI Litigation Task Force to challenge state AI laws, and tells the Commerce Secretary to review existing state laws within 90 days. It also ties some federal broadband money to whether a state has what the order calls onerous AI laws.

But an executive order can't repeal a state statute. Every law in the table above stays on the books unless a court strikes it down or the state changes it. States do change them: Colorado rewrote its own law in 2026. So plan around the state rules as written, not around what a lawsuit might do someday.

What do state AI laws mean for your job, business or freelance work?

If you're an employee, the laws that touch you most are about automated decisions. Colorado's 2027 rules cover consequential decisions like hiring, and Connecticut's SB 5 includes employment decision tools. California's governor signed SB 947 on automated decision systems in employment on Sept 30, 2026. In practice, you may start seeing notices that software helped screen your application or score your performance, and you may gain the right to ask for an explanation.

If you run a business, the bigger exposure is usually your vendors. You probably don't build models, but you likely buy software that uses them to screen applicants, answer customers or help with lending decisions. Under a law like Colorado's, the business using the tool to make a consequential decision may have its own notice and explanation duties. So the question becomes: does your software contract promise the vendor will help you comply, and who pays if it doesn't?

If you freelance, watch for a few things. Disclosure laws in Utah and Washington may shape what clients ask you to label. And election deepfake laws, now in force in 31 states, matter if you make political ads or campaign content. If a client contract asks you to disclose AI tool use or makes you carry the risk for AI output, read that clause before you sign, not after a dispute.

Chatbots are the fastest-moving niche. States enacted 14 companion chatbot laws in the first half of 2026, out of more than 100 bills. If your business runs a customer-facing chatbot, check your vendor's terms on disclosures and safety features.

What to do before you sign a contract that touches AI

• Find out which states you, your customers and your workers are in. A state's AI law can matter to you because of who it protects, even if your company is based somewhere else.
• Mark the dates. Texas HB 149 took effect Jan 1, 2026. Colorado, New York and Illinois duties begin Jan 1, 2027, and Washington's disclosure law follows on Feb 1, 2027.
• Ask each software vendor in writing whether its product makes or helps make decisions about hiring, pay, housing, credit or services, and what notices it supports.
• Look for a compliance-with-laws clause that names AI and automated decision laws, not just a vague promise to follow applicable law.
• Check whether the vendor can use your data or your customers' data to train its models, and if you can opt out.
• If you're a freelancer, agree in writing on whether AI tools are allowed on the project and who is responsible for labeling AI-made content.
• Recheck every few months. State lists change quickly, and the federal task force may challenge some laws in court.

Sources and method

Every number on this page comes from the sources below, each opened and read on or before October 17, 2026. A second, independent review checked every figure against its source and corrected anything that did not match. 51 of 51 state entries were confirmed; any that could not be are marked "Not yet confirmed" and left out of every count and chart.

1. Tech Policy Press (Scott Babwah Brennen, NYU Center on Technology Policy), Where State AI Legislation Stands Half Way Into 2026 (July 6, 2026 (counts as of July 1, 2026))
2. NYU Center on Technology Policy, State Technology Policy Report 2025 (December 11, 2025)
3. MultiState, 2025 State of State AI Policy (January 16 (year not printed on page; covers the 2025 sessions))
4. Public Citizen, Tracker: State Legislation on Deepfakes in Elections (Last updated October 5, 2026)
5. Public Citizen, 30 States Now Have Laws to Regulate Election Deepfakes (May 13, 2026)
6. IAPP, US State AI Governance Legislation Tracker 2026 (chart PDF) (Last updated April 28, 2026)
7. Squire Patton Boggs (Privacy World blog; Alan Friel, Julia Jacobson), U.S. AI Law: 2026 Midyear State Update (September 16, 2026)
8. Colorado General Assembly, SB26-189 Automated Decision-Making Technology (Signed May 14, 2026 (2026 Regular Session))
9. Texas Legislature Online, HB 149 (89th Legislature, Regular Session) bill history (Last action June 22, 2025)
10. Washington State Legislature, HB 1170: Informing users when content is developed or modified by artificial intelligence (2025-26 biennium; Chapter 167, Laws of 2026)
11. Washington State Legislature, HB 2225: Regulating artificial intelligence companion chatbots (2025-26 biennium; Chapter 168, Laws of 2026)
12. New York State Senate, General Business Law Article 44-B, Responsible AI Safety and Education (RAISE) Act (Effective January 1, 2027)
13. Office of the Governor of New York, Governor Hochul Signs Nation-Leading Legislation to Require AI Frameworks for AI Frontier Models (December 19, 2025)
14. Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, Governor Newsom signs SB 53, advancing California's world-leading artificial intelligence industry (September 29, 2025)
15. Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, California's nation-leading AI framework just got stronger, Governor Newsom signs more first-in-the-nation worker protections and more (September 30, 2026)
16. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Illinois Enacts AI Safety Law, Becoming First State to Mandate Independent Third-Party Audits of Frontier AI Developers (July 2026)
17. Kilpatrick Townsend, Connecticut Enacts New AI Legislation: What Businesses Need to Know About SB 5 (June 29, 2026)
18. Federal Register / GovInfo, Executive Order 14365, Ensuring a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence (90 FR 58499) (Signed December 11, 2025; published December 16, 2025)