New JerseyAI regulation

Regulation Status

• New Jersey regulates AI through a combination of longstanding transparency law, its comprehensive privacy statute, criminal deepfake provisions, and civil-rights rulemaking, rather than a single AI act. The New Jersey Bot Act (N.J.S.A. 56:18-1 et seq.), effective in 2020, requires disclosure at the outset of any bot-driven communication used to sell or advertise merchandise or real estate or to solicit support in an election, with civil penalties of up to $2,500 for a first offense, $5,000 for a second offense, and $10,000 for subsequent offenses, plus Attorney General authority to seek injunctive relief, costs, and attorney fees; it does not impose duties on online-platform, web-hosting, or internet-service providers.
• The New Jersey Data Privacy Act (N.J.S.A. 56:8-166.4 et seq., enacted as P.L.2023 c.266 / S332), effective 15 January 2025, lets consumers opt out of automated processing and profiling that produces legal or similarly significant effects and requires data-protection assessments for certain profiling, enforceable at up to $10,000 for a first violation and $20,000 for each subsequent violation. In 2025 New Jersey enacted A3540, establishing criminal penalties for producing, using, or disseminating deepfakes to further a crime or offense, with fines up to $30,000 per violation and a civil cause of action for actual damages or at least $1,000 per knowing or reckless violation. Effective 15 December 2025, the Attorney General's Division on Civil Rights adopted rules under N.J.A.C. 13:16 clarifying that existing anti-discrimination law applies to automated employment decision tools and illustrating how their use may cause disparate impact.
• New Jersey has not enacted a standalone comprehensive AI statute, but its Attorney General has issued guidance treating algorithmic discrimination under the Law Against Discrimination; the state's posture emphasizes bot and deepfake transparency, privacy-based automated-decision rights, and civil-rights enforcement against biased employment AI.
• Executive and agency developments: Executive Order 346: Artificial Intelligence Task Force: Establishes a task force to study emerging AI technologies and recommend ethical and responsible government action. Directs work on AI's societal effects and responsible deployment to improve public services, bringing multiple state agencies into the governance process.