Montana

Summary

Montana enacted a notable cluster of AI-behavior laws in its 2025 legislative session, making it one of the more active states in this space despite having no comprehensive AI accountability framework. The centerpiece is House Bill 178 (effective October 1, 2025), which limits government use of artificial intelligence systems — prohibiting AI-driven surveillance, manipulation, and discriminatory classification by state and local agencies, and requiring human review of any AI recommendation or decision that affects a person's rights. Senate Bill 212 (effective April 2025) establishes a constitutional 'Right to Compute' and requires deployers of critical infrastructure controlled by AI to maintain risk-management policies and mandatory shutdown capabilities. On disclosure, Senate Bill 25 (2025) requires AI-generated political content — deepfakes — to be labeled within 60 days of an election, and House Bill 513 (effective January 1, 2026) creates strong property rights over name, voice, and visual likeness against unauthorized AI-generated digital replicas. Montana has no enacted law governing AI crawlers, training-data opt-outs, or automated decision-making in the private sector beyond likeness rights; the general Montana Consumer Protection Act (Mont. Code Ann. § 30-14-101 et seq.) provides a residual unfair-or-deceptive-acts backstop that could reach undisclosed bots.