Home › AI Laws › Pennsylvania › Sharon
AI Laws in Sharon, Pennsylvania
As of 2026-07-19, AI Laws USA tracks 19 AI rules that apply to people and businesses in Sharon, Pennsylvania: 10+ federal protections, 8 Pennsylvania state-level rules, and 1 local Sharon ordinance. Coverage is strongest on consumer protection, automated decision-making, government use of AI, and data-center siting and energy. 7 of these rules are already in effect. Each entry below links to its official source.
Sharon local AI rules (and Mercer County)
1 local AI rule specific to Sharon, Pennsylvania or Mercer County.
-
In effect Moderate protection
Sharon PA data center zoning guardrails (July 2026)
Sharon, PA · City of Sharon, PA zoning ordinance on data center siting and operations (reported July 16, 2026)
Sharon, Pennsylvania (Mercer County, in the Shenango Valley) adopted zoning guardrails for data centers: they may only be sited in industrial districts and must meet operating requirements. The change was reported by WFMJ on July 16, 2026.
Pennsylvania-level AI rules
8 Pennsylvania state rules apply to residents and businesses in Sharon. Sorted strongest first.
-
In effect Limited 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.
-
Blocked / in litigation Moderate protection
PA v. Character.AI (Fake Psychiatrist Chatbot)
Pennsylvania · Effective 2026-05-01 · Commonwealth v. Character Technologies, Inc. (Pa. Commonwealth Ct., filed May 1, 2026)
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro filed suit in Commonwealth Court on May 1, 2026, alleging that Character.AI's companion chatbot 'Emilie' impersonated a licensed Pennsylvania psychiatrist and provided ongoing psychiatric advice and treatment to users without a license. The Shapiro administration seeks a preliminary injunction requiring Character.AI to clearly disclose that its chatbots are not licensed mental health professionals and cannot provide medical treatment.
-
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.
-
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.
-
In effect Limited 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, adaptability, employee empowerment, equity and fairness, innovation, mission alignment, privacy, proportionality, safety and security, and transparency) that govern Commonwealth agencies' use of generative AI tools.
-
Enacted (not yet in effect) Moderate protection
PA HB 1924 data center water/energy reporting (signed July 12, 2026)
PA · Enacted 2026-07-12 · Pennsylvania HB 1924 (signed July 12, 2026, FY2026-27 budget), annual data center water/energy reporting mandate
Pennsylvania now requires data centers to report their water and energy use every year. The mandate — House Bill 1924, signed July 12, 2026 as part of the state's 2026-27 budget — carries fines of $10,000 per day for facilities that fail to report. The Department of Environmental Protection will publish an annual aggregate report, and the data is expected to improve grid-demand forecasting in the PJM region.
-
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.
-
In effect Limited protection
PA Deepfake/CSAM Law (Act 125)
Pennsylvania · Effective 2024-12-28 · 2024 Pa. Laws Act 125 (SB 1213); 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.
Federal AI rules that apply in Sharon, Pennsylvania
These federal protections apply everywhere in the United States, including Sharon, Pennsylvania. Showing the 10 strongest and most recent.
-
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 ruled that training on lawfully purchased books was fair use. The piracy claims (LibGen ingestion) were not adjudicated to a final ruling — they proceeded toward settlement. In September 2025 Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion class settlement, though Judge Alsup denied preliminary approval without prejudice pending additional information on the claims protocol and attorney fees.
-
In effect Stronger protection
Benavides v. Tesla (Autopilot)
S.D. Fla. · Effective 2025-08-01 · Benavides 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 jury awarded $243M ($129M compensatory + $200M punitive); in February 2026 the court denied Tesla's post-trial motions and upheld the verdict in full — the first Autopilot wrongful-death verdict against Tesla.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Blocked / in litigation Stronger protection
NetChoice v. Yost (Ohio)
S.D. Ohio · Effective 2025-04-16 · NetChoice, LLC v. Yost, No. 2:24-cv-00047 (S.D. Ohio Apr. 16, 2025)
Ohio's Social Media Parental Notification Act — requiring parental consent for minors' social-media use, including algorithmic feeds — was preliminarily enjoined on February 12, 2024, then permanently enjoined on April 16, 2025 when the district court granted summary judgment for NetChoice. The state appealed to the Sixth Circuit, which vacated the district court's injunction in 2026.
-
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 dispositive as a matter of statutory law. AI cannot be a copyright author under U.S. law.
-
In effect Stronger protection
Thomson Reuters v. Ross
D. Del. · Effective 2025-02-11 · Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH v. Ross Intelligence, Inc., No. 1:20-cv-00613 (D. Del. Feb. 11, 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. No jury trial occurred: a 2023 opinion had denied summary judgment and pointed toward trial, but the court invited renewed briefing and reversed course in the 2025 ruling.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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 Sharon, Pennsylvania
Are there AI laws in Sharon, Pennsylvania?
What federal AI rules apply in Sharon?
Does Pennsylvania have an AI privacy law?
Are deepfakes illegal in Pennsylvania?
Can my employer use AI to screen me for jobs in Sharon?
How do I report an AI law violation in Sharon?
Are facial recognition cameras allowed in Sharon?
Is Sharon regulated by Pennsylvania's consumer privacy act?
Have we missed an AI rule in Sharon?
This page is generated from our open civic dataset. If you know of a Sharon ordinance, county rule, or local enforcement action we should add, email [email protected] or submit a correction. Every entry must include a verifiable source.