With advancements in artificial intelligence on overdrive, state legislatures from one coast to another are increasingly filling the regulatory vacuum during conversations on and off the floor in session at the 2025 National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Legislative Summit.
Although we have yet to see a sweeping federal AI law, states are hard at work defining the regulatory environment, frequently in response to pressing issues within their own borders.
The NCSL, which is bipartisan and works with state lawmakers, has been a vocal critic of a proposed 10-year moratorium on state AI regulation at the federal level. This is a strong statement of belief by state lawmakers that local regulation is necessary to respond to the fast-developing nuances and potential downsides of AI.
Their case is that the states are nimbler and have clearer visibility into certain challenges like deepfake scams, algorithmic discrimination and consumer protection issues that they can address based on what is happening in their own communities.
Indeed, 2025 is becoming a packed year for state-level AI legislation. More than 550 AI bills have been proposed in states and territories, with many signing new laws into effect. Key trends in proposed legislation have been among other things transparency in use of AI (in particular for generative AI content) and strong mechanisms to prevent bias in algorithms.
Multiple states are also looking at measures to protect minors from the AI-driven harmful content, as well as regulating the use of AI in government services and healthcare. For example, Colorado has introduced extensive AI legislation, and states such as Utah are revising their own AI Policy Acts with a focus on disclosure and consumer protection.
The differences reflect the differing priorities of states, with some focusing on digital rights and the prevention of abuse, and others on anti-discrimination protections and labor rights. This “patchwork” of laws, which is often reviled by some in the tech industry for imposing compliance costs, is seen by state legislators to be a natural outcrop of policy experimentation in a quickly progressing technological realm.
The continued discourse such as what’s taking place at events like the NCSL summit is so important to generating discussion between states and the feds in order to establish a firewall of sorts between the draconian side and the aetherial creative side of AI technology.
