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AI Laws in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
As of 2026-06-17, AI Laws USA tracks 21 AI rules that apply to people and businesses in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 10+ federal protections, 6 Pennsylvania state-level rules, and 5 local Philadelphia ordinances. Coverage is strongest on automated decision-making, government use of AI, consumer protection, and children's online safety. 7 of these rules are already in effect. Each entry below links to its official source.
Philadelphia local AI rules (and Philadelphia County)
5 local AI rules specific to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania or Philadelphia County.
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In effect Limited protection
School District of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA · Effective 2025-09-01 · School District of Philadelphia — Generative AI Guidelines (PASS program) (2025-09-01)
Approves Google Gemini and Adobe Express with Firefly in a 'walled garden' configuration so user data is not used to train external LLMs. Paired with a three-tier UPenn-developed PD program (PASS).
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Proposed / pending Proposed or pending
Philadelphia FR Moratorium (proposed)
Philadelphia, PA · Philadelphia, Pa., Council Bill No. 220660 (proposed)
A pending Philadelphia City Council bill that would place a moratorium on city use of facial recognition technology until the Council approves use policies and oversight.
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Proposed / pending Proposed or pending
Philadelphia AI Disclosure (proposed)
Philadelphia, PA · Phila. City Council Bill No. 230614 (proposed)
Proposed Philadelphia ordinance requiring city departments to disclose when they use AI systems in resident-facing services, with annual inventory reporting to the Council.
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Proposed / pending Proposed or pending
Philadelphia GenAI Employees (proposed)
Philadelphia, PA · Phila. City Council Bill No. 240482 (proposed)
Proposed Philadelphia ordinance establishing rules for city employees' use of generative AI tools, including ChatGPT, with restrictions on data input and required human review.
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Proposed / pending Proposed or pending
Philadelphia ALPR Restriction (proposed)
Philadelphia, PA · Phila. City Council Bill No. 230661 (proposed)
Proposed Philadelphia ordinance setting restrictions on Automated License Plate Reader deployment by the Philadelphia Police Department and city agencies, including retention limits and federal data-sharing prohibitions.
Pennsylvania-level AI rules
6 Pennsylvania state rules apply to residents and businesses in Philadelphia. Sorted strongest first.
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In effect Moderate protection
PA Act 130 of 2022 (HAVs)
Pennsylvania · Effective 2022-11-03 · Act 130 of 2022; 75 Pa. C.S. Ch. 88
Pennsylvania's comprehensive AV law authorized fully driverless operation, created a PennDOT permitting regime for testing and commercial deployment, required incident reporting to PennDOT and State Police, and authorized 'highly automated work zone vehicles' and platooning. Pennsylvania had been an AV testing hub since 2016 under non-statutory PennDOT guidance; Act 130 finally codified the framework.
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In effect Moderate protection
PA EO 2023-19 (GenAI)
PA · Effective 2023-09-20 · Pa. Exec. Order No. 2023-19 (Sept. 20, 2023)
Governor Shapiro's EO 2023-19 establishes Pennsylvania's Generative AI Governing Board and sets 10 core values (accuracy, equity, privacy, security, transparency, accountability, employee empowerment, sustainability, innovation, and human dignity) that govern Commonwealth agencies' use of generative AI tools.
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In effect Limited protection
PA DOI AI Bulletin
PA · Effective 2024-04-06 · Pennsylvania ID Insurance Notice 2024-04 (54 Pa.B. 1910) (2024-04-06)
The PA Department of Insurance adopted the NAIC Model Bulletin on Use of Artificial Intelligence Systems by Insurers. Insurers licensed in PA 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
PA PDD law (Act 130/2020)
Pennsylvania · Effective 2021-01-04 · Act 130 of 2020; 75 Pa. C.S. § 3550
Pennsylvania authorized personal delivery devices to operate on sidewalks, shoulders, and roadways up to 25 mph (high relative to most PDD laws), requires $100,000 liability insurance, and reserves limited regulation to local governments.
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In effect Limited protection
PA Deepfake/CSAM Law (Act 125)
Pennsylvania · Effective 2024-10-01 · 2024 Pa. Laws Act 125 (SB 22); 18 Pa. C.S. §§ 3131, 6312
Pennsylvania criminalized creating and distributing sexual deepfakes of any person, and classified AI-generated sexual depictions of minors as child sexual abuse material. The Attorney General has already charged people under this law.
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In effect Limited protection
PA Digital Forgery Law
Pennsylvania · Effective 2025-09-05 · 2025 Pa. Laws Act 35 (SB 649); 18 Pa. C.S. § 4935
Pennsylvania created the crime of 'digital forgery': making a forged AI-generated likeness of someone with intent to defraud or injure is a first-degree misdemeanor, escalating to a third-degree felony for financial fraud — directly targeting AI voice-clone scams like fake grandchild emergency calls. A clear fake-content disclaimer is an affirmative defense.
Federal AI rules that apply in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
These federal protections apply everywhere in the United States, including Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 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 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Are there AI laws in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania?
What federal AI rules apply in Philadelphia?
Does Pennsylvania have an AI privacy law?
Are deepfakes illegal in Pennsylvania?
Can my employer use AI to screen me for jobs in Philadelphia?
How do I report an AI law violation in Philadelphia?
Are facial recognition cameras allowed in Philadelphia?
Is Philadelphia regulated by Pennsylvania's consumer privacy act?
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This page is generated from our open civic dataset. If you know of a Philadelphia ordinance, county rule, or local enforcement action we should add, email [email protected] or submit a correction. Every entry must include a verifiable source.