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AI Laws in Minneapolis, Minnesota
As of 2026-06-17, AI Laws USA tracks 24 AI rules that apply to people and businesses in Minneapolis, Minnesota: 10+ federal protections, 7 Minnesota state-level rules, and 7 local Minneapolis ordinances. Coverage is strongest on consumer data privacy, automated decision-making, biometric data, and police and surveillance AI. 10 of these rules are already in effect. Each entry below links to its official source.
Minneapolis local AI rules (and Hennepin County)
7 local AI rules specific to Minneapolis, Minnesota or Hennepin County.
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In effect Moderate protection
Minneapolis FR Ban
Minneapolis, MN · Enacted 2021-02-12 · Minneapolis, Minn., FR Ban Ordinance (Feb. 12, 2021)
Minneapolis bans city departments, including the police department, from procuring facial recognition technology or using data derived from it, with a council-approved exceptions process and annual reporting. No repeal or weakening amendment was found — the ordinance appears to remain in effect as of June 2026.
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Enacted (not yet in effect) Moderate protection
Minneapolis Data Center Moratorium
Minneapolis, MN · Enacted 2026-05-22 · Minneapolis, Minn., interim data center moratorium (May 22, 2026)
On May 22, 2026 the Minneapolis City Council voted 8–5 to impose a six-month moratorium on new large data centers while the city studies environmental and grid impacts and drafts zoning regulations. The pause targets facilities larger than 350,000 square feet and exempts smaller downtown developments — a size- and location-limited pause, not a total ban.
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In effect Limited protection
Minneapolis Public Schools
Minneapolis, MN · Effective 2024-09-04 · Minneapolis Public Schools — AI Guidance for Educators (2024-09-04)
District-issued educator guidance: vetted tool list, ban on entering student IEP or behavior data into generative AI, AI must not be sole basis for academic placement or discipline, recommended classroom disclosure when AI is used to create materials.
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In effect Stronger protection
Minneapolis FR Ban Ordinance
Minneapolis, MN · Effective 2021-02-12 · Minneapolis, Minn., Code of Ordinances ch. 41A (Ord. 2021-038)
Minneapolis bans its city departments, including the police, from using facial recognition technology or obtaining facial recognition information from any third party.
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Proposed / pending Proposed or pending
Minneapolis AI Procurement
Minneapolis, MN · StateScoop, June 2026
Minneapolis council members introduced an ordinance to require public disclosure of all city contracts involving AI systems and to publish a standing AI use inventory.
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Proposed / pending Proposed or pending
Minneapolis GenAI Policy (proposed)
Minneapolis, MN · Minneapolis City Council File No. 2024-00123 (proposed)
Proposed Minneapolis council action directing the city's Information Technology department to publish a binding generative AI use policy for city employees and report annually on AI tools in use.
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In effect Stronger protection
MPD Consent Decree AI Limits
Minneapolis, MN · Effective 2023-07-13 · Minn. Dep't of Human Rights v. City of Minneapolis, Court-Enforceable Settlement Agreement (2023)
Minnesota Department of Human Rights settlement with the City of Minneapolis governing MPD reforms, including restrictions on predictive policing tools, facial recognition, and other algorithmic policing technologies.
Minnesota-level AI rules
7 Minnesota state rules apply to residents and businesses in Minneapolis. Sorted strongest first.
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In effect Moderate protection
MN drone-warrant law (2020)
Minnesota · Effective 2020-08-01 · Minn. Stat. § 626.19
Minnesota requires police to get a search warrant before using a drone, with narrow exceptions, and to publish an annual public report listing every drone deployment, purpose, and cost. The annual transparency requirement is among the strongest in any state drone law.
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In effect Limited protection
Minnesota Consumer Data Privacy Act
Minnesota · Effective 2025-07-31 · 2024 Minn. Laws ch. 123 (HF 4757); Minn. Stat. §§ 325M.01–.21
Minnesota's privacy law gives residents data rights plus something unique: the right to question automated profiling decisions with significant effects — including the right to know why the decision was made and what would change the outcome. Full AG enforcement began February 2026.
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In effect Moderate protection
MN AG Ellison
MN · Effective 2026-01-15 · MN AG Ellison — Consumer Privacy Alert on Biometric Authentication and AI Surveillance (2026-01-15)
Ellison alert and online reporting tool warn residents about AI-powered ID/tracking using biometric, app, and vehicle data; recommends disabling FaceID/TouchID. Follows expert filings in Kohls v. Ellison deepfake case.
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In effect Limited protection
Minnesota SF 4097 (social-media algorithm disclosure)
Minnesota · Effective 2025-07-01 · Minn. Stat. 325M.30-325M.34; Laws 2024, ch. 114, art. 3, sec. 63 (SF 4097)
Minnesota requires large social media platforms to publicly explain how their algorithmic ranking systems decide what users see. Among other things, a platform must disclose how its own content-quality judgments and a user's stated content preferences are weighted against other ranking signals. The rules apply to platforms doing business in or targeting Minnesotans that have more than 10,000 monthly active users.
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In effect Limited protection
Minnesota HF 2432 (AI-generated CSAM)
Minnesota · Effective 2025-08-01 · Minn. Stat. 617.246; Laws 2025, ch. 35 (HF 2432)
Minnesota expanded its child sexual abuse material law to cover images produced with generative AI. The definition now reaches a visual depiction of someone indistinguishable from an actual minor that is created by feeding prompts into generative AI or similar technology, shows the person engaged in sexual conduct, and is obscene. This closes a gap so that synthetic, AI-generated imagery can be prosecuted under the existing CSAM framework.
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In effect Limited protection
MN Deepfake Law
Minnesota · Effective 2023-08-01 · 2023 Minn. Laws ch. 58 (HF 1370); Minn. Stat. §§ 617.261, 211B.16
Minnesota criminalized two kinds of AI deepfakes in 2023: nonconsensual intimate deepfakes of anyone, and election deepfakes of candidates distributed within 90 days of an election without consent. Victims of intimate deepfakes can also sue. X Corp. has challenged the election provision in court.
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Blocked / in litigation Limited protection
MN HF 1370 (partially enjoined)
MN · Effective 2023-08-01 · Minn. Stat. ch. 58 (2023); Kohls v. Ellison, No. 0:24-cv-03754 (D. Minn.)
Minnesota HF 1370 criminalized election deepfakes (it remains in effect for non-consensual intimate imagery). The election-deepfake portions were challenged in Kohls v. Ellison (D. Minn.) — preliminary injunction motion fully briefed and awaiting 8th Circuit appellate review.
Federal AI rules that apply in Minneapolis, Minnesota
These federal protections apply everywhere in the United States, including Minneapolis, Minnesota. 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 Minneapolis, Minnesota
Are there AI laws in Minneapolis, Minnesota?
What federal AI rules apply in Minneapolis?
Does Minnesota have an AI privacy law?
Are deepfakes illegal in Minnesota?
Can my employer use AI to screen me for jobs in Minneapolis?
How do I report an AI law violation in Minneapolis?
Are facial recognition cameras allowed in Minneapolis?
Is Minneapolis regulated by Minnesota's consumer privacy act?
Have we missed an AI rule in Minneapolis?
This page is generated from our open civic dataset. If you know of a Minneapolis ordinance, county rule, or local enforcement action we should add, email [email protected] or submit a correction. Every entry must include a verifiable source.