Artificial intelligence (AI) regulation and litigation are set to take center stage in 2026, as new laws, guidance, and enforcement priorities are introduced at the federal and state levels. This year employers will face a rapidly evolving patchwork of state-level AI laws that impose distinct requirements for transparency, risk assessment, and anti-discrimination in the use of AI systems, particularly in employment and other high-risk contexts. At the same time, federal initiatives, such as the Trump Administration’s (the Administration’s) December 2025 Executive Order on AI, signal a push for a national framework and preemption of state laws, setting the stage for significant legal and compliance challenges. Meanwhile, high-profile litigation over AI training data, copyright, and algorithmic bias continues to progress, with courts addressing novel questions about fair use, data provenance, and liability for AI-generated outputs.
This alert provides an overview of the key US AI laws taking effect in 2026, recent federal and state regulatory developments, and significant pending litigation that will shape the United States’ AI legal landscape in the year ahead.
Starting 30 June 2026, Colorado’s SB 24-205 (the Colorado AI Act) introduces new compliance obligations for entities doing business in Colorado, regardless of their location, and relying on “high-risk” AI tools to make employment decisions (and other “...
After making a series of errors and misidentifying several widely circulated images and videos over the past several days, Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok is now deleting tweets that contain evidence of i...