TexasAI regulation

Regulation Status

• Texas is among the most active US states on AI regulation and, with the Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act (TRAIGA, HB 149), has enacted a broad state AI-governance statute. TRAIGA clarifies when Texas's biometric privacy law applies to AI training, development, and deployment; requires governmental agencies making an AI system available to consumers to disclose that interaction; restricts governmental AI social-scoring and certain biometric-identification uses; and prohibits developing or deploying AI systems to intentionally manipulate human behavior in a harmful way, with the sole intent to infringe rights, with the intent to unlawfully discriminate, or with the sole intent to produce or distribute child sexual abuse material. Enforcement is subject to a right to cure, with penalties up to $12,000 for curable violations, up to $200,000 for uncurable violations, and $2,000 to $40,000 per day for continuing violations.
• Beyond TRAIGA, Texas has adopted a cluster of targeted AI laws: Government Code Chapter 2054, Subchapter S requires state agencies to inventory AI systems, assess heightened-scrutiny systems, and follow a statewide AI code of ethics for state agencies and local governments; SB 1188 permits AI use for diagnostic purposes in electronic health records with patient disclosure; SB 815 bars utilization-review agents from using automated decision systems to make adverse coverage determinations; and SB 2373 creates civil and criminal consequences for AI-enabled financial abuse and phishing.
• Texas also has multiple synthetic-media and child-protection measures. HB 2700 and SB 1621 expand child sexual abuse material offenses to AI-generated or digitally altered imagery; SB 20 creates felony offenses involving obscene visual material appearing to depict a child and certain AI-training uses; SB 1361 criminalizes nonconsensual distribution of sexual deepfakes; SB 441 creates liability and removal-request duties for certain artificial sexual material involving websites, AI applications, and payment processors; and HB 581 imposes age-verification and consent-related duties for publicly accessible tools that create artificial sexual material harmful to minors.
• The Texas Data Privacy and Security Act gives consumers an opt-out right for solely automated processing of personal data used to evaluate, analyze, or predict personal aspects in furtherance of decisions producing legal or similarly significant effects, and requires data protection assessments for such processing.