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AI Laws in Fort Myers, Florida
As of 2026-06-17, AI Laws USA tracks 22 AI rules that apply to people and businesses in Fort Myers, Florida: 10+ federal protections, 11 Florida state-level rules, and 1 local Fort Myers ordinance. Coverage is strongest on consumer protection, automated decision-making, deepfakes, and AI disclosure and transparency. 10 of these rules are already in effect. Each entry below links to its official source.
Fort Myers local AI rules (and Lee County)
1 local AI rule specific to Fort Myers, Florida or Lee County.
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In effect Limited protection
Lee County FL School District
Fort Myers, FL · Effective 2025-09-23 · Lee County FL School District — Generative AI Use Procedures (2025-09-23)
District-adopted procedures govern AI tool selection through district IT vetting, require parental consent for student AI accounts under 13, prohibit AI deepfakes / impersonation, and treat unauthorized AI use as an academic integrity violation.
Florida-level AI rules most relevant to Fort Myers
11 Florida state rules apply to residents and businesses in Fort Myers. Showing the 8 most relevant to Fort Myers's local picture; 3 more are on the Florida jurisdiction page.
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In effect Limited protection
Florida Digital Bill of Rights (privacy / profiling opt-out)
Florida · Effective 2024-07-01 · Fla. CS/CS/SB 262 (2023); ch. 2023-201, Laws of Fla.; Fla. Stat. Secs. 501.701-501.722
Florida's Digital Bill of Rights gives covered consumers a set of data-privacy rights, including the right to opt out of profiling carried out solely by automated processing when that profiling is used to make decisions that have a legal or similarly significant effect on the person. Businesses that meet the law's thresholds must also conduct and document data-protection assessments for higher-risk processing activities such as profiling, targeted advertising, and the sale of personal data. The Florida Attorney General enforces the law; consumers cannot sue directly. The law applies only to a relatively narrow set of very large businesses.
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In effect Moderate protection
FL Bar Op. 24-1 (GenAI)
FL · Effective 2024-01-19 · Fla. Bar Ethics Op. 24-1
Florida lawyers using generative AI must obtain informed client consent before using AI to handle client information, supervise AI like nonlawyer staff, verify factual and legal accuracy, comply with advertising rules for AI chatbots, and follow billing requirements that prevent overcharging.
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In effect Moderate protection
FL HB 7027 (2016 driverless AV)
Florida · Effective 2016-04-04 · Ch. 2016-181, Laws of Fla.; Fla. Stat. §§ 316.85, 316.86
Florida became one of the first states to allow fully driverless autonomous vehicles on public roads. HB 7027 removed the prior requirement that a licensed driver be present in the vehicle and built on Florida's 2012 AV testing law, paving the way for the 2019 'driverless deployment' law (HB 311) that explicitly authorizes AVs with no human driver.
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In effect Moderate protection
FL HB 919 AI political/commercial disclosure
FL · Effective 2024-07-01 · Ch. 2024-127, Laws of Fla.; Fla. Stat. § 106.143
Florida requires any political ad using AI-generated content to carry a clear disclaimer; failing to disclose AI use in a political or paid ad — or using AI to materially deceive — is a first-degree misdemeanor. Enforcement is via the Florida Elections Commission and the Department of State.
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In effect Moderate protection
FL drone surveillance act
Florida · Effective 2013-07-01 · Fla. Stat. §§ 934.50, 330.41
Florida bars law enforcement from using drones for surveillance without a warrant or specific exception, and (after SB 92/2015 and SB 44/2021 amendments) prohibits anyone from using a drone to capture images of private property or people on private property in violation of reasonable expectations of privacy. SB 44 (2021) also tightened state preemption over local drone ordinances.
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In effect Limited protection
FL AG AI scam alert
FL · Effective 2025-06-04 · Fla. Stat. §§ 501.201, 825.103; FL OAG Consumer Alert (June 4, 2025)
Florida's Attorney General issued a consumer alert warning Floridians about AI voice-cloning scams, deepfake romance schemes, and AI-generated celebrity-endorsement fraud, and pledged DUTPA enforcement. Florida's Senior Protection program and Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act (FDUTPA) are the operative tools.
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In effect Limited protection
HB 919 (AI Political Ad Disclaimers)
Florida · Effective 2024-07-01 · Fla. Stat. § 106.145 (CS/HB 919, 2024)
Florida political ads that use generative AI to depict a real person doing something they never did — with intent to injure a candidate or deceive voters — must carry a clear disclaimer that the content was created with generative AI. Failing to include the disclaimer is a first-degree misdemeanor.
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Enacted (not yet in effect) Limited protection
SB 484 (FL Data Center Costs)
Florida · Effective 2026-07-01 · Fla. SB 484 (2026)
One of the first state laws regulating AI data centers' utility impact: large data centers must bear their own electricity infrastructure costs rather than shifting them to households and small businesses, local governments keep their authority to reject data center projects, and Florida's water resources get new protections. Takes effect July 1, 2026.
Federal AI rules that apply in Fort Myers, Florida
These federal protections apply everywhere in the United States, including Fort Myers, Florida. 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 Fort Myers, Florida
Are there AI laws in Fort Myers, Florida?
What federal AI rules apply in Fort Myers?
Does Florida have an AI privacy law?
Are deepfakes illegal in Florida?
Can my employer use AI to screen me for jobs in Fort Myers?
How do I report an AI law violation in Fort Myers?
Are facial recognition cameras allowed in Fort Myers?
Is Fort Myers regulated by Florida's consumer privacy act?
Have we missed an AI rule in Fort Myers?
This page is generated from our open civic dataset. If you know of a Fort Myers ordinance, county rule, or local enforcement action we should add, email [email protected] or submit a correction. Every entry must include a verifiable source.