Tennessee AI Laws and Regulation (2026)

Overview of Tennessee AI Laws

Tennessee has taken a targeted approach to artificial intelligence regulation, focusing on areas where AI poses immediate risks rather than enacting a single comprehensive AI statute. The state made national headlines in 2024 by becoming the first in the country to pass legislation specifically addressing AI's impact on the music industry, reflecting Nashville's outsized role in American music.

As of March 2026, Tennessee's enacted AI laws center on protecting creative professionals' voices and likenesses from unauthorized AI use. The state has several significant bills progressing through the 114th General Assembly that would expand AI regulation into chatbot safety, child protection, and election integrity.

The Tennessee AI Advisory Council, established by executive order, provides an additional layer of AI governance by guiding responsible AI adoption across state agencies. Tennessee's regulatory philosophy balances support for innovation with targeted protections where AI creates demonstrable harm.

This article covers all enacted and pending Tennessee AI legislation, executive actions, and regulatory developments. This information is current as of March 2026, but you should consult a licensed Tennessee attorney for advice specific to your situation.

The ELVIS Act: Protecting Creative Professionals from AI

The Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security (ELVIS) Act is Tennessee's landmark AI legislation and the most significant AI-related law the state has enacted. Governor Bill Lee signed the ELVIS Act into law on March 21, 2024, with an effective date of July 1, 2024.

What the ELVIS Act Does

The ELVIS Act updates Tennessee's Protection of Personal Rights law (formerly the Personal Rights Protection Act of 1984) by adding "voice" to the list of protected personal attributes. Under the amended TCA Title 47, Chapter 25, individuals now have an enforceable property right in their name, photograph, voice, and likeness.

The law creates a private right of action against anyone who distributes, transmits, or otherwise makes available an algorithm, software, tool, or other technology whose primary purpose is producing an individual's photograph, voice, or likeness without that person's authorization.

Tennessee was the first state in the nation to enact legislation specifically protecting musicians from AI-generated audio that mimics their singing voices. The bill passed both chambers unanimously, with 93-0 in the House and 30-0 in the Senate.

Who Is Protected

The ELVIS Act protects any individual whose voice, photograph, name, or likeness is used without consent. While the law was motivated by concerns in the music industry, its protections extend to all Tennessee residents and any person whose rights are violated through conduct occurring in Tennessee.

The law is particularly relevant for:

• Musicians and recording artists targeted by AI voice cloning
• Actors and performers whose likenesses are replicated by generative AI
• Public figures and private citizens whose images appear in AI-generated content
• Estates of deceased individuals, as Tennessee's personal rights protections survive death

Legal Remedies

Individuals whose rights are violated under the ELVIS Act can pursue injunctive relief to stop unauthorized use, actual damages suffered as a result of the violation, and profits derived by the violator from the unauthorized use. The law also allows courts to award reasonable attorney's fees and costs to prevailing plaintiffs.

The ELVIS Act targets not only those who create unauthorized AI-generated content but also the providers of AI tools whose primary purpose is generating such content. This distinction makes Tennessee's law broader than many deepfake statutes in other states, which typically only target the end users who create or distribute unauthorized content.

The CHAT Act: Regulating AI Chatbots

The Curbing Harmful AI Technology (CHAT) Act represents Tennessee's most aggressive proposed AI regulation. The legislation was introduced as a companion package: HB 1946 in the House and SB 1700 in the Senate.

Criminal Penalties for Dangerous AI Training

The CHAT Act would create criminal liability for developers who knowingly train AI models to engage in specified harmful behaviors. Under the proposed legislation, it would be a criminal offense to train an AI system to:

• Encourage the act of suicide
• Support or facilitate criminal homicide
• Develop an emotional relationship with an individual
• Provide emotional support through conversations
• Simulate a human being in appearance, voice, or mannerisms
• Impersonate a human being

Offense	Classification	Sentence Range
Training AI to encourage suicide	Class A felony	15 to 25 years
Training AI to support criminal homicide	Class A felony	15 to 25 years
Training AI for emotional relationships	Class A felony	15 to 25 years
Training AI to simulate humans	Class A felony	15 to 25 years

The Class A felony classification places these offenses among Tennessee's most serious crimes, carrying sentences of 15 to 25 years in the state penitentiary.

Civil Remedies

Beyond criminal penalties, the CHAT Act would allow aggrieved individuals or their legal representatives to pursue civil actions. Available damages include actual damages suffered, compensation for emotional distress, liquidated damages of $150,000, and punitive damages at the court's discretion.

Legislative Status

As of March 2026, SB 1700 has been recommended for passage with an amendment by the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee. The bill would take effect July 1, 2026, and apply to conduct occurring on or after that date. The CHAT Act is part of a national trend, with similar chatbot regulation bills advancing in Georgia and Hawaii during the same legislative session.

SB 2171: Frontier AI Safety Requirements

Senate Bill 2171 takes a different approach to AI regulation by targeting the largest AI companies rather than specific uses of AI technology. The bill focuses on "frontier" AI models and chatbots that are most likely to be used by minors.

Safety Plan Requirements

Under SB 2171, covered AI companies would be required to write, implement, and publicly post both public safety plans and child safety plans. These plans must explain how companies identify, assess, and mitigate catastrophic risks and child safety risks associated with their AI systems.

Companies would need to bring in third-party evaluators for key safety assessments and revisit their plans on a set schedule. While companies could redact portions of the public versions to protect trade secrets, cybersecurity, or national security interests, they must justify those redactions and keep unredacted copies on file.

Child Protection Focus

The bill's sponsors have emphasized that the legislation aims to ensure AI companies are transparent about how they evaluate danger and what steps they will take if a system steers a young user toward self-harm or other serious harm.

SB 2171 adds Tennessee's own set of obligations to the state's growing AI framework. The bill's child safety plan requirements and incident reporting obligations are specifically tailored to chatbot operators above defined revenue and user thresholds.

Federal Preemption Concerns

SB 2171 faces potential challenges from the federal government. On December 11, 2025, President Trump signed an executive order directing the Attorney General to establish an AI Litigation Task Force to challenge state AI laws. The task force could target SB 2171's requirements as unconstitutional burdens on interstate commerce. However, the executive order includes exemptions for child safety protections, which may shield significant portions of SB 2171 from federal challenge.

Deepfake Laws and Election Integrity

Tennessee has addressed AI-generated deepfakes through both the ELVIS Act and pending election-specific legislation.

Political Advertising Deepfake Bills

House Bill 1513, the "Transparency for Deepfakes in Political Advertising Act," would require political advertisements to include a disclaimer if they contain deepfake elements impersonating or depicting a candidate engaging in activity or speech that did not actually occur.

Violations of the disclaimer requirement would constitute a Class C misdemeanor. Candidates depicted in unauthorized deepfakes would also be entitled to damages and equitable relief through civil action.

SB 2321: Electoral Deepfake Prohibition

Senate Bill 2321 takes a broader approach by prohibiting the distribution of "electoral deepfakes." The bill defines these as deceptive and fraudulent AI-generated or manipulated depictions of candidates or political parties intended to mislead voters within 90 days of an election.

The bill includes exceptions for content that carries a clear disclosure stating it has been altered by artificial intelligence. Disclosure requirements vary by media type:

• Images: Written text disclosure visible within the image
• Video: On-screen text disclosure throughout the video
• Audio: Spoken disclosure at the beginning and end of the recording

Candidates or political parties harmed by electoral deepfakes can seek injunctive relief to stop publication. Entities violating the law face civil penalties ranging from $1,000 to $10,000, depending on the severity and intent of the violation.

Tennessee AI Advisory Council

Tennessee established an AI Advisory Council to guide the state's approach to artificial intelligence in government operations and public policy.

Action Plan

The AI Advisory Council released its first action plan in November 2025, unanimously approved by council members at a public meeting on November 17, 2025. The plan establishes a framework for responsible AI adoption that ensures transparency, accountability, and protection of individual rights.

The action plan focuses on several strategic areas:

• Modernization and Pilots: Launching measurable AI pilot projects to improve government service delivery and efficiency
• Data and Compute Readiness: Building secure statewide infrastructure for safe AI experimentation
• Workforce Development: Preparing state employees and the broader workforce for AI integration
• Ethical Governance: Ensuring AI systems reflect Tennessee's values of transparency and accountability

Enterprise AI Policy

The Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration has published an Enterprise Artificial Intelligence Policy (Policy 200-POL-007) that governs AI use across state government agencies. This policy provides guidelines for procurement, deployment, and oversight of AI systems used in state operations.

Reporting Requirements

The council is required to provide annual reports to the Governor and the General Assembly tracking progress on its action plan. The first annual report was delivered in December 2025, fulfilling the council's statutory reporting obligation. The council will continue its work through 2028.

AI and Mental Health Regulation

Tennessee has addressed the intersection of AI and mental health services through specific legislation. The Tennessee Senate unanimously passed a bill prohibiting AI systems from representing themselves as qualified mental health professionals.

This legislation responds to growing concerns about AI chatbots providing therapeutic advice to users, particularly minors, without the qualifications or oversight that licensed mental health professionals must maintain. The bill reflects Tennessee's broader focus on ensuring AI systems do not substitute for human expertise in sensitive areas like mental health care.

Federal AI Policy and Tennessee

Executive Order on State AI Laws

President Trump's Executive Order 14365, signed December 11, 2025, aims to establish a national AI policy framework that limits state-level AI regulation. The order directs the Department of Justice to create an AI Litigation Task Force empowered to challenge state AI laws on constitutional grounds.

For Tennessee, this creates uncertainty around pending bills like SB 2171 and the CHAT Act. However, the executive order includes carve-outs for child safety protections and state government AI procurement policies, which would likely shield portions of Tennessee's legislative agenda from federal challenge.

Impact on Tennessee's Approach

Tennessee's targeted regulatory approach may prove more resilient to federal preemption challenges than the comprehensive AI frameworks adopted by states like Colorado. By focusing on specific harms (deepfakes, chatbot safety, child protection) rather than broad AI governance, Tennessee's laws are more likely to fall within the executive order's protected categories.

Looking Ahead: Tennessee's AI Regulatory Future

Tennessee's 114th General Assembly has several AI bills in various stages of consideration. The CHAT Act and SB 2171 represent the most significant pending proposals, both targeting AI companies with safety obligations and enforcement mechanisms.

The state's AI Advisory Council will continue providing guidance through 2028, with annual reports shaping legislative priorities. Tennessee's position as a major music industry hub ensures that protections for creative professionals will remain a central feature of the state's AI regulatory approach.

The balance between encouraging AI innovation and protecting residents from AI-related harms will continue to define Tennessee's legislative strategy. The ELVIS Act's unanimous bipartisan support suggests that targeted, harm-focused AI regulation enjoys broad political support in the state.

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• Tennessee Whistleblower Laws
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