Colorado enacts revised AI law | United States | Global law firm
Colorado enacts revised AI law | United States | Global law firm
Publish Date: 2026-05-20 02:17:00
Source Domain: www.nortonrosefulbright.com
Colorado’s first artificial intelligence (AI) governance law (SB24-205, the “AI Act”) has been the center of attention recently. As we previously discussed, in early April X.AI sued to enjoin enforcement of the AI Act. The federal government quickly moved to intervene (the first instance of a federal intervention into a challenge to a state-level AI governance law), and then the Colorado Attorney General agreed to suspend enforcement of the AI Act pending:
- resolution of X.AI’s forthcoming motion for preliminary injunction and
- any amendment to the AI Act by the Colorado General Assembly
One of those steps has since occurred: the Colorado General Assembly has now amended the AI Act, and the Governor of Colorado signed the amended law on May 14, 2026. It will go into effect on January 1, 2027.
The amended law, Senate Bill 26-189 (SB26-189, referred herein as the Revised CO AI Act), repealed and replaced the AI Act. The adoption of the Revised CO AI Act changes how the state intends to govern artificial intelligence going forward, including by departing from the AI Act’s algorithmic discrimination and duty of care framework. Instead, under the Revised CO AI Act, the state will regulate the use of automated decision-making technology (ADMT) in “consequential decisions,” and remove the terminology of “high-risk artificial intelligence systems” initially used when the AI Act was introduced in May 2024.
This article examines the content of the Revised CO AI Act and what it signals for the future of state-level AI regulation across the country.
Overview
Under the Revised CO AI Act, Colorado removed certain standards, revised certain defined terms carried over from the initial Colorado AI Act and introduced new defined terms that were previously absent. Notably, the Revised CO AI Act does not include the expression “artificial intelligence” and instead uses the term “automated decision-making technology,” defined as a…
