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AI Laws in Helena, Montana
As of 2026-06-17, AI Laws USA tracks 17 AI rules that apply to people and businesses in Helena, Montana: 10+ federal protections, 7 Montana state-level rules (no Helena-specific ordinances are indexed yet). Coverage is strongest on deepfakes, AI-generated images, automated decision-making, and government use of AI. 7 of these rules are already in effect. Each entry below links to its official source.
Helena local AI rules (and Lewis and Clark County)
No city- or county-specific AI ordinances are currently indexed for Helena, Montana.
- Honest gap: We don't currently index any Helena-specific AI ordinances. Federal and Montana state rules still apply throughout the city. Have we missed something? Email [email protected].
Montana-level AI rules
7 Montana state rules apply to residents and businesses in Helena. Sorted strongest first.
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In effect Limited protection
Montana SB 413 (crime to share explicit deepfakes)
Montana · Effective 2025-05-12 · Mont. SB 413 (2025), Ch. 606; MCA Title 45, ch. 5, part 6
Montana created a new crime for sharing sexually explicit deepfakes (AI-generated or altered images and video) of a real, identifiable person. It is illegal to knowingly disclose such media when you know the person did not consent and that the disclosure would cause them serious emotional distress, to disclose it intending to harass or harm the person, or to possess it and threaten to release it to extort money or other things of value.
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In effect Limited protection
Montana HB 514 (sextortion deepfakes in privacy crime)
Montana · Effective 2025-10-01 · Mont. HB 514 (2025) (Ch. 686); MCA 45-8-213
Montana expanded its existing 'privacy in communications' crime to cover real or AI-fabricated sexual images. It is now an offense to publish or distribute such images of an identifiable person without consent to harass or harm them or to obtain money, and separately to possess such images and threaten to release them to extort money or other valuables.
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In effect Moderate protection
Montana HB 513 (property right in voice & likeness vs. deepfakes)
Montana · Effective 2026-01-01 · Mont. HB 513 (2025) (Ch. 685); codified in Title 30, ch. 14, MCA
Montana gives individuals a property right in their name, voice, and visual likeness. A person may be sued for damages if, without consent, they intentionally publish, perform, distribute, or make available to the public a digital voice or visual depiction of an individual for commercial use, knowing it is an unauthorized depiction of that person. The same liability applies to distributing tools whose primary purpose is producing such unauthorized digital depictions. The right lasts 20 years after death, with exceptions for news, commentary, and parody.
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In effect Limited protection
MT Election Deepfake Law
Montana · Enacted 2025-01-01 · Mont. SB 25, 69th Leg., 2025 Reg. Sess.; enrolled bill: legiscan.com/MT/text/SB25/id/3212547
Montana prohibits unlabeled deepfakes in election and electioneering communications within 60 days of an election. If AI-generated media is labeled as such, it is permitted. Candidates falsely depicted can obtain court injunctions, the Commissioner of Political Practices can investigate and impose fines, and repeat offenders face criminal prosecution.
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In effect Limited protection
Montana HB 178 (limits on government AI use)
Montana · Effective 2025-10-01 · Mont. HB 178 (2025) (Ch. 427); codified in Title 2, MCA
Montana restricts how state and local government use AI. A government entity or state officer may not use an AI system to manipulate a person or group, to classify people in ways that cause unlawful discrimination or disparate impact, for a malicious purpose, or to surveil public spaces (with narrow exceptions). Government must disclose AI-produced material that no qualified human reviewed and disclose public-facing AI interfaces. Any AI recommendation or decision that could affect a person's rights, duties, or privileges must be reviewed by a qualified human who can reject or change it.
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In effect Limited protection
Montana MCDPA
Montana · Effective 2025-10-01 · Mont. Code Ann. §§ 30-14-2901 et seq. (SB 384, 2023; as amended by SB 297, 2025, eff. Oct. 1, 2025)
Montana's comprehensive consumer privacy law, strengthened by 2025 amendments, gives residents rights to access, correct, delete, and opt out of data processing. The SB 297 amendment removed the 'solely automated' qualifier for profiling opt-out, meaning consumers can now opt out of any automated decision-making that involves profiling with significant effects — not just fully automated decisions.
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In effect Limited protection
MT Right to Compute Act
Montana · Effective 2025-04-17 · Mont. SB 212, 69th Leg., 2025 Reg. Sess., signed Apr. 17, 2025
Montana became the first state to enshrine a constitutional right to compute, guaranteeing residents the right to own and use computational resources including AI hardware, software, and data processing tools. Any government regulation restricting these rights must meet a strict scrutiny standard.
Federal AI rules that apply in Helena, Montana
These federal protections apply everywhere in the United States, including Helena, Montana. 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 Helena, Montana
Are there AI laws in Helena, Montana?
What federal AI rules apply in Helena?
Does Montana have an AI privacy law?
Are deepfakes illegal in Montana?
Can my employer use AI to screen me for jobs in Helena?
How do I report an AI law violation in Helena?
Are facial recognition cameras allowed in Helena?
Is Helena regulated by Montana's consumer privacy act?
Have we missed an AI rule in Helena?
This page is generated from our open civic dataset. If you know of a Helena ordinance, county rule, or local enforcement action we should add, email [email protected] or submit a correction. Every entry must include a verifiable source.