Vetoed by Governor Glenn Youngkin

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to concur with Senate amendments and pass a bill that establishes regulations for artificial intelligence in Virginia.

Highlights:

• Establishes requirements for the development, deployment, and use of “high-risk artificial intelligence systems.” and specifies civil penalties for noncompliance that shall be enforced by the state attorney general (Sec. 1).

• Defines “Artificial intelligence system” as any machine learning-based system that, for any explicit or implicit objective, infers from the inputs such system receives how to generate outputs, including content, decisions, predictions, and recommendations, that can influence physical or virtual environments (Sec. 1).

• Defines “High-risk artificial intelligence system” means any artificial intelligence system that is specifically intended to autonomously make, or be a substantial factor in making a consequential decision, including if it is intended to (Sec. 1):

• Perform a narrow procedural task;

• Improve the result of a previously completed human activity;

• Detect any decision-making patterns or any deviations from pre-existing decision-making patterns; or

• Perform a preparatory task for an assessment relevant to a consequential decision.

• Exempts the following technologies from being defined as a high-risk artificial intelligence system (Sec. 1):

• Anti-fraud technology that does not use facial recognition technology;

• Anti-malware technology;

• Anti-virus technology;

• Artificial intelligence-enabled video games;

• Autonomous vehicle technology;

• Calculators;

• Cybersecurity technology;

• Databases;

• Data storage;

• Firewall technology;

• Internet domain registration;

• Internet website loading;

• Networking;

• 14. Spam and robocall filtering;

• Spell-checking technology;

• Spreadsheets;

• Web caching;

• Web hosting or any similar technology; or

• Technology that communicates with consumers in natural language to provide users with information, make referrals or recommendations, and answer questions is subject to an acceptable use policy that prohibits generating content that is discriminatory or unlawful.

• Specifies that the provisions of this bill shall take effect beginning July 1, 2026 (Sec. 2).

Full Bill Text

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to amend and pass a bill that establishes regulations for artificial intelligence in Virginia.

Highlights:

• Establishes requirements for the development, deployment, and use of “high-risk artificial intelligence systems.” and specifies civil penalties for noncompliance that shall be enforced by the state attorney general (Sec. 1).

• Defines “Artificial intelligence system” as any machine learning-based system that, for any explicit or implicit objective, infers from the inputs such system receives how to generate outputs, including content, decisions, predictions, and recommendations, that can influence physical or virtual environments (Sec. 1).

• Defines “High-risk artificial intelligence system” means any artificial intelligence system that is specifically intended to autonomously make, or be a substantial factor in making a consequential decision, including if it is intended to (Sec. 1):

• Perform a narrow procedural task;

• Improve the result of a previously completed human activity;

• Detect any decision-making patterns or any deviations from pre-existing decision-making patterns; or

• Perform a preparatory task for an assessment relevant to a consequential decision.

• Exempts the following technologies from being defined as a high-risk artificial intelligence system (Sec. 1):

• Anti-fraud technology that does not use facial recognition technology;

• Anti-malware technology;

• Anti-virus technology;

• Artificial intelligence-enabled video games;

• Autonomous vehicle technology;

• Calculators;

• Cybersecurity technology;

• Databases;

• Data storage;

• Firewall technology;

• Internet domain registration;

• Internet website loading;

• Networking;

• 14. Spam and robocall filtering;

• Spell-checking technology;

• Spreadsheets;

• Web caching;

• Web hosting or any similar technology; or

• Technology that communicates with consumers in natural language to provide users with information, make referrals or recommendations, and answer questions is subject to an acceptable use policy that prohibits generating content that is discriminatory or unlawful.

• Specifies that the provisions of this bill shall take effect beginning July 1, 2026 (Sec. 2).

Full Bill Text