AlabamaAI regulation

Regulation Status

• Alabama takes a narrow, targeted approach to AI regulation, with roughly three relevant laws and no comprehensive AI act. In 2024 it enacted two AI-adjacent criminal and election measures: the Alabama Child Protection Act of 2024 (HB 168, effective October 1, 2024), which expands child sexual abuse material to cover virtually indistinguishable digitally or computer-generated depictions, with existing criminal penalties applying, and the Alabama Materially Deceptive Election Media Law (HB 172, effective October 1, 2024), which criminalizes distributing materially deceptive AI-generated media falsely depicting an individual to influence an election, while providing a disclaimer-based safe harbor and escalating penalties for repeat offenses.
• Alabama's automated-decision-making rules come through the Alabama Personal Data Protection Act (HB 351), signed by Governor Kay Ivey on April 17, 2026, which made Alabama the 21st US state to enact a comprehensive consumer data privacy law. The statute takes effect May 1, 2027 and grants consumers a right to opt out of solely automated processing used to make significant decisions involving areas such as credit, housing, insurance, education, criminal justice, employment, health care, or access to basic necessities; enforcement can reach up to $15,000 per violation. A Senate amendment removed any requirement to honor universal opt-out preference signals. Alabama has not enacted a broad risk-based or algorithmic-discrimination AI statute.