Montana is the First State to Guarantee Computational Freedom
Key highlights this week:
We’re tracking 986 bills in all 50 states related to AI during the 2025 legislative session.
Arkansas enacted a handful of laws to limit sexual deepfakes, protect IP rights, and mandate government policies for AI tools.
The governor in Maryland signed two bills into law, creating an AI study committee and prohibiting sexual deepfakes.
North Dakota adds two new sexual deepfake bills to its laws, making 35 states with laws addressing sexual deepfakes.
And last week, Montana became the first state to enact a “Right to Compute Act,” which is the subject of this week’s deep dive below.
Over the past month or so, we’ve chronicled the deceleration of the regulatory movement that had high hopes at the beginning of the year to enact AI consumer protection and safety legislation at the state level. The fear of geopolitical competition, especially after the hype around the Chinese DeepSeek model, along with a major policy shift on the federal level under President Trump, has changed the narrative in the states, which were already facing skepticism from governors. But there’s also a small movement in the states to flip the script on AI regulation by enacting a “right to compute.” Last week, Montana became the first state to enact such a bill into law.
Montana lawmakers, who are only in session for a short period every two years, made up for lost time this year by introducing 48 AI-related bills. Two have been signed into law, and another six bills have passed the legislature and are awaiting the governor’s signature to become law. Two additional bills have passed their chamber of origin and await further action before the legislature is scheduled to adjourn for the year on May 3.
