Regulators are increasingly cautioning employers about artificial intelligence tools’ potential role in employment discrimination.
Artificial intelligence is already disrupting operations across swaths of industries, and HR is no exception.
AI’s use cases in the HR space are evolving rapidly, from filtering and tracking job candidates to generating internal communications and analyzing facial expressions during video interviews. But it’s the use of AI in hiring that is drawing particular attention from regulators.
In 2023, New York City passed the nation’s first-ever law requiring employers to conduct annual bias audits of automated employment decision-making tools. Months later, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued guidance for employers about how to audit AI for employment discrimination.
Here we track the states, cities and other jurisdictions that have passed laws on the use of AI and other automated decision-making tools in the hiring process. We’ll offer a brief description of each law’s requirements, its effective date and a link to the original law, along with any relevant coverage from our journalists.
Readers may sort through the laws using the field on the left side of this page. The categories by which readers may sort include state name and area of jurisdiction (statewide vs. locality only).
Want to know when new AI in hiring laws are enacted or old ones updated? Sign up for our newsletter. Have a question or comment? Email us.
Area of jurisdiction
Colorado
Effective date: Feb. 1, 2026
Employers affected: All employers
Employers that deploy “high-risk artificial intelligence systems” for purposes such as the provision or denial of job opportunities must take “reasonable care” to protect consumers from algorithmic discrimination.
Employers must create AI risk management policies and programs. They also must complete impact assessments for all AI systems both annually as well as within 90 days after any modifications are made. Consumers must be notified about the AI’s deployment, and deployers must publish statements disclosing the AI systems they deploy and the information those systems collect.
Employers must provide consumers opportunities to correct any incorrect personal data processed by an AI and appeal adverse consequential decisions made by an AI. In the event that a deployer discovers algorithmic discrimination has occurred, it must report the discovery to the state attorney general within 90 days.
Some of the law’s requirements do not apply when the deployer employs fewer than 50 full-time employees and does not use its own data to train the AI; the AI system meets certain exemption criteria; and the deployer makes an impact assessment of the AI available to consumers.
Related Stories:
Colorado governor signs bill outlawing AI job discrimination in 2026Keep reading Statewide2026
Illinois
Effective date: Jan. 1, 2020
Employers affected: All employers
Employers that ask candidates to record video interviews and conduct analysis of applicant-submitted videos using AI must, prior to the interview, notify applicants that AI may be used, provide information explaining how the AI works and what general characteristics it will use to evaluate applicants, and obtain candidates’ consent to be evaluated by the AI.
Employers may not share applicant videos with anyone other than those persons whose expertise or technology is necessary to evaluate a candidate’s fitness for the position.
Employers must, within 30 days after receiving a deletion request from a candidate, delete video interviews and instruct any persons who received copies of such interviews to delete them, including any electronically generated backup copies.
Employers that rely solely upon AI analysis of video interviews to determine whether applicants will be selected for in-person interviews must collect and report the race and ethnicity data of all applicants who are selected for in-person interviews following an AI analysis, those who are not selected following an AI analysis and those who are ultimately hired. This data must be reported annually to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
View the lawKeep reading Statewide2020
Maryland
Effective date: Oct. 1, 2020
Employers affected: All employers
Employers may not use facial recognition services for the purpose of creating a facial template — i.e., the machine-interpretable pattern of facial features extracted from one or more images of an individual by such services — during an applicant’s interview for employment, unless the applicant consents to this by signing a waiver. The waiver must state the applicant’s name, the date of the interview, that the applicant consented to the use of facial recognition during the interview and whether the applicant read the consent waiver.
View the lawStatewide2020
New York City, New York
Effective date: Jan. 1, 2023
Employers affected: All employers
Employers must conduct bias audits on automated employment decision tools, including those that utilize AI and similar technologies. The results of such audits must be posted, or linked, to the employer’s website, and the results must disclose selection or scoring rates across gender and race or ethnicity categories.
Employers may not continue to use automated employment decision tools that have not been audited in more than one year.
Employers also must provide certain notices about such tools at least 10 days prior to their use to employees or job candidates who reside in the city, and they must provide candidates the opportunity to request an alternative selection process or accommodation. New York City began enforcement of the law on July 5, 2023.
Leave a Reply