Key point: Colorado and Connecticut recently enacted laws regulating employers’ use of AI and automated decision-making tools in employment decisions—with notice obligations, anti-discrimination requirements, and civil penalties that will require employers operating in these states to reassess their AI-driven HR practices now. Meanwhile, Illinois paused its rulemaking efforts on the circumstances under which notice of the use of AI is required.
Key point: Colorado has repealed and replaced the Colorado AI Act, amid years of skepticism from industry critics.
On May 14, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed SB 26-189 into law, repealing and replacing the landmark Colorado Artificial Intelligence Act (CAIA), just under two months before it was set to take effect. CAIA was enacted in 2024 with an amended effective date of June 30, 2026.
A recent ruling by the Southern District Court of New York sets a historical precedent for the use of generative AI platforms in the legal profession. The court found that a client’s prompts to a generative AI system and documents generated by AI to share with counsel are not protected by the attorney-client privilege or
With three new state privacy laws that took effect on January 1, 2026 (Indiana, Kentucky, and Rhode Island), adding to an extensive list of others, many organizations are discovering that their website privacy practices haven’t kept pace. Even those that updated their websites recently are finding hidden gaps, often due to unnoticed changes in technological tools and files, such as first and third-party cookies, third-party analytics software, and/or third-party scripts, tags, and pixels. A website audit can prevent enforcement issues and potential litigation or arbitration demands.
Key point: The President’s latest Executive Order establishes the Genesis Mission and aspires to use AI to accelerate scientific discovery in sectors such as biotech, quantum, nuclear power, and semiconductors.
Key point: Recent legislative efforts in Massachusetts, seeking to add another comprehensive data privacy law to the national patchwork of state laws, and in California enacting a law to regulate AI development, occurred this week when the Massachusetts Senate unanimously sent Senate Bill 2608 to the state House, and California enacted the nation’s second substantive state law regulating AI.
Key point: The California Legislature is considering a bill that would impose comprehensive requirements on the development, deployment, and use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, with a focus on transparency, accountability, and risk mitigation.
Keypoint: Virginia becomes the second legislature – after Colorado – to pass an algorithmic discrimination bill – although the bill still needs to get through the state’s Republican governor to become law.
On February 20, Virginia’s Democrat-controlled legislature passed the Virginia High-Risk Artificial Intelligence Developer and Deployer Act (HB 2094). The bill next
Welcome to the second edition of Byte Back AI, a weekly newsletter providing updates on proposed state AI bills and regulations, an AI bill tracker chart, summaries of important AI hearings, and special features. Starting January 6, 2025, Byte Back AI will be available only to paid subscribers. For more information on subscriptions, please click here.
As always, the contents provided below are time-sensitive and subject to change.