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AI Laws in Boston, Massachusetts
As of 2026-06-17, AI Laws USA tracks 25 AI rules that apply to people and businesses in Boston, Massachusetts: 10+ federal protections, 7 Massachusetts state-level rules, and 8 local Boston ordinances. Coverage is strongest on automated decision-making, government use of AI, AI disclosure and transparency, and AI-generated images. 10 of these rules are already in effect. Each entry below links to its official source.
Boston local AI rules (and Suffolk County)
8 local AI rules specific to Boston, Massachusetts or Suffolk County.
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In effect Moderate protection
Boston Face Surveillance Ban
Boston, MA · Effective 2020-06-24 · Boston, Mass., Code of Ordinances 16-62 (2020)
Boston bans all city departments, including police, from obtaining or using face surveillance systems. City officials also may not ask third parties or other agencies to run facial recognition searches on their behalf.
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In effect Limited protection
Boston GenAI Guidelines
Boston, MA · Effective 2023-05-18 · City of Boston, Interim GenAI Guidelines v1.1 (May 18, 2023)
Boston was one of the first major US cities to issue generative AI guidance for its workforce. The interim guidelines tell city employees to never put confidential or personally identifying information into AI prompts, to fact-check all AI-generated content, and to disclose AI use, while encouraging responsible experimentation.
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In effect Limited protection
Boston Public Schools
Boston, MA · Effective 2025-09-01 · Boston Public Schools — Guidance on AI + Draft Districtwide Policy 2026 (2025-09-01)
Revised 2025 guidance plus a May 2026 draft policy that bans non-sanctioned AI use, non-consensual deepfakes, AI as sole basis for grading/discipline, and PII entry into unapproved tools. Moving toward AI literacy graduation requirement.
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In effect Limited protection
Boston City GenAI Guidelines
Boston, MA · Effective 2023-05-18 · City of Boston, Interim Guidelines for Using Generative AI (May 18, 2023)
Boston issued some of the first city-government guidance in the US on staff use of generative AI: employees may experiment with tools like ChatGPT, but must disclose AI use, fact-check output, and avoid entering confidential information.
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Proposed / pending Proposed or pending
Boston AI Bias Hearing Order
Boston, MA · Boston, Mass., Council Docket #0612-2024 (hearing order)
A Boston City Council order calling a public hearing on bias and accountability risks in city use of artificial intelligence and automated decision systems.
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Proposed / pending Proposed or pending
Boston AI Procurement (proposed)
Boston, MA · Boston City Council Docket No. 0432 (2024, proposed)
Proposed Boston City Council ordinance requiring disclosure when the City of Boston procures or uses AI systems and mandating impact reviews for high-risk uses.
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In effect Moderate protection
Boston Interim GenAI Guidelines
Boston, MA · Effective 2023-05-18 · City of Boston, Interim Guidelines for Using Generative AI (May 18, 2023)
Boston Mayor's Office interim guidelines authorizing limited use of generative AI tools by city employees with required disclosure and prohibitions on entering sensitive data.
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Proposed / pending Proposed or pending
Boston Deepfake Election Resolution
Boston, MA · Boston City Council Docket No. 0816 (proposed)
Boston City Council resolution calling for state and federal action on deceptive AI-generated content in elections, and urging Boston Election Department guidance for municipal contests.
Massachusetts-level AI rules
7 Massachusetts state rules apply to residents and businesses in Boston. Sorted strongest first.
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In effect Moderate protection
MA AG Campbell
MA · Effective 2024-04-16 · MA AG Campbell — Advisory on Consumer Protection, Anti-Discrimination, Data Security and AI (2024-04-16)
Clarifies that Chapter 93A, the Anti-Discrimination Law, and MA Data Security Regs apply fully to AI developers, suppliers, and users; identifies algorithmic discrimination and misrepresenting AI capabilities as unfair/deceptive.
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In effect Moderate protection
MA EO 629
MA · Effective 2024-02-14 · Mass. Exec. Order No. 629 (Feb. 14, 2024)
Governor Healey's EO 629 creates a 26-member AI Strategic Task Force spanning government, labor, healthcare, finance, education, and life sciences to recommend AI policy for Massachusetts.
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In effect Moderate protection
MA AG
MA · Effective 2025-07-10 · MA AG — $2.5M Earnest Operations Settlement (AI Underwriting Discrimination) (2025-07-10)
Settlement with student-loan lender Earnest over allegations its AI underwriting model and 'Knockout Rule' produced disparate impacts on Black, Hispanic, and non-citizen applicants. Mandates AI governance, annual fair-lending testing, AG reporting.
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In effect Limited protection
MA DOI AI Bulletin
MA · Effective 2024-12-09 · Massachusetts Division of Insurance Bulletin 2024-10 (2024-12-09)
The MA Department of Insurance adopted the NAIC Model Bulletin on Use of Artificial Intelligence Systems by Insurers. Insurers licensed in MA must maintain a written AI program with governance, risk-management, testing, third-party-AI oversight, and documentation controls. The bulletin operationalizes existing unfair-trade-practice and unfair-discrimination law as applied to insurers' AI use cases — underwriting, pricing, claims, fraud detection, and marketing.
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In effect Limited protection
MA Digitized Intimate-Images Law (deepfake NCII)
Massachusetts · Effective 2024-09-18 · Acts of 2024, ch. 118 (H.4744), amending G.L. c. 265, Sec. 43A
Massachusetts's 'An Act to Prevent Abuse and Exploitation' created a criminal offense for distributing nonconsensual intimate images and expressly extended it to 'visual material produced by digitization.' Digitization is defined to include creating or altering visual material — such as through computer-generated images — in a way that would falsely appear to a reasonable person to be an authentic depiction of the person shown. This brings AI-generated and digitally fabricated intimate images within the same prohibition that applies to real photos and videos.
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Proposed / pending Proposed or pending
Massachusetts AI-CSAM Criminalization Act (Senate)
Massachusetts · S 1174, 194th General Court of Massachusetts (2025-2026)
Would close a gap in Massachusetts law by criminalizing the creation and distribution of sexually explicit images of children that are technologically edited, collaged, morphed, or AI-generated. Massachusetts is one of only five states that has not updated its child pornography statutes to cover AI-generated content. The bill aligns state law with statutes already enacted in 45 other states.
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Proposed / pending Proposed or pending
Massachusetts AI-CSAM Criminalization Act (House)
Massachusetts · H 1593, 194th General Court of Massachusetts (2025-2026)
House companion to S 1174. Would update Massachusetts child pornography statutes to criminalize the creation, distribution, or possession of sexually explicit images of children that are AI-generated, morphed, or digitally edited. Would bring Massachusetts into alignment with 45 other states that already criminalize AI-generated CSAM under state law.
Federal AI rules that apply in Boston, Massachusetts
These federal protections apply everywhere in the United States, including Boston, Massachusetts. Showing the 10 strongest and most recent.
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In effect Stronger protection
Bartz v. Anthropic
N.D. Cal. · Effective 2025-09-05 · Bartz v. Anthropic PBC, No. 3:24-cv-05417 (N.D. Cal.)
Authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson sued Anthropic over its use of pirated-book datasets to train Claude. In June 2025 Judge William Alsup issued a split ruling: training on lawfully purchased books was fair use, but ingesting pirated copies from LibGen was not. In September 2025 Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion class settlement — the largest AI copyright recovery to date.
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In effect Stronger protection
Banner v. Tesla (Autopilot)
S.D. Fla. · Effective 2025-08-01 · Banner v. Tesla, Inc., No. 1:21-cv-21940 (S.D. Fla. Aug. 1, 2025)
A Florida federal jury found Tesla 33% liable in August 2025 for the 2019 death of Naibel Benavides Leon, in a crash involving Autopilot. The verdict awarded $243M (later reduced to ~$220M) — the first Autopilot wrongful-death verdict against Tesla.
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In effect Stronger protection
COPPA + 2025 Rule (childrens data)
United States · Effective 2025-06-23 · 15 U.S.C. §§ 6501–6506; 16 C.F.R. Part 312
COPPA requires online services aimed at children under 13 to get verifiable parental consent before collecting kids' personal data. The 2025 rule update — fully in effect since April 22, 2026 — adds biometric identifiers (like face templates and voiceprints, which matter for AI tools), requires separate parental consent before sharing children's data for targeted advertising, and tightens data retention limits.
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In effect Stronger protection
TAKE IT DOWN Act
United States · Effective 2025-05-19 · Pub. L. No. 119-12 (S. 146)
Makes it a federal crime to knowingly publish intimate images of someone without consent, including AI-generated deepfakes. Social media and similar platforms must give victims a way to request removal and must take the content (and known copies) down within 48 hours. The platform removal requirement became enforceable May 19, 2026, and the FTC has already begun enforcement.
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In effect Stronger protection
Thaler v. Perlmutter (Copyright)
D.C. Cir. · Effective 2025-03-18 · Thaler v. Perlmutter, 130 F.4th 1039 (D.C. Cir. 2025)
The companion copyright case: Stephen Thaler sought to register a copyright with 'Creativity Machine' (his AI) as the author. The D.C. Circuit affirmed in March 2025 that the Copyright Act's human-authorship requirement is constitutional and dispositive. AI cannot be a copyright author under U.S. law.
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In effect Stronger protection
Thomson Reuters v. Ross
D. Del. · Effective 2025-02-11 · Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH v. Ross Intelligence, Inc., 694 F. Supp. 3d 467 (D. Del. 2025)
Thomson Reuters sued legal-research startup Ross Intelligence in 2020 for copying Westlaw headnotes to train a competing AI legal-research tool. In February 2025, Judge Stephanos Bibas (sitting by designation) granted summary judgment to Thomson Reuters on direct copyright infringement and rejected Ross's fair-use defense — the first definitive U.S. ruling on AI-training fair use. The 2023 jury trial verdict had been deadlocked; the 2025 ruling resolved liability.
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In effect Stronger protection
Louis v. SafeRent
D. Mass. · Effective 2024-11-20 · Louis v. SafeRent Solutions, LLC, No. 1:22-cv-10800 (D. Mass.)
SafeRent agreed in November 2024 to a $2.275M settlement and a five-year ban on using its 'SafeRent Score' for housing-voucher applicants, after a class action alleged its AI tenant-screening tool systematically denied housing to Black and Hispanic Section 8 voucher holders. The first major AI tenant-screening Fair Housing Act settlement.
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In effect Stronger protection
NetChoice v. Yost (Ohio)
S.D. Ohio · Effective 2024-04-30 · NetChoice, LLC v. Yost, No. 2:24-cv-00047 (S.D. Ohio Apr. 30, 2024)
Ohio's Social Media Parental Notification Act — requiring parental consent for minors' social-media use, including algorithmic feeds — was permanently enjoined as unconstitutional in April 2024.
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In effect Stronger protection
FTC Impersonation Rule (AI)
United States · Effective 2024-04-01 · 16 C.F.R. Part 461; 89 Fed. Reg. 15017
The FTC's Impersonation Rule lets the agency directly sue scammers who pretend to be a government agency or a real business — including those who use AI-cloned voices or generated images to do so. Civil penalties can reach $53,088 per violation. The FTC also issued a supplemental notice in February 2024 proposing to extend the rule to all individual impersonation.
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In effect Stronger protection
TCPA (AI voice calls)
United States · Effective 2024-02-08 · 47 U.S.C. § 227; FCC 24-17
Robocalls using AI-cloned or AI-generated voices are treated like other 'artificial voice' calls: callers need your prior express consent, must identify themselves, and must offer opt-outs for telemarketing. You can personally sue violators for $500 to $1,500 per illegal call.
Frequently asked questions about AI laws in Boston, Massachusetts
Are there AI laws in Boston, Massachusetts?
What federal AI rules apply in Boston?
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Are deepfakes illegal in Massachusetts?
Can my employer use AI to screen me for jobs in Boston?
How do I report an AI law violation in Boston?
Are facial recognition cameras allowed in Boston?
Is Boston regulated by Massachusetts's consumer privacy act?
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This page is generated from our open civic dataset. If you know of a Boston ordinance, county rule, or local enforcement action we should add, email [email protected] or submit a correction. Every entry must include a verifiable source.