Tennessee
AI behavior law: bot and agent disclosure, crawler and training-data rules, automated-agent transactions, and algorithmic decision-making.
Summary
Tennessee has enacted several AI-behavior statutes that together form a notable, if narrowly targeted, body of law. The Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security (ELVIS) Act (2024) was a national first: it extends right-of-publicity protections to AI-cloned voices and likenesses, directly addressing generative AI's impact on musicians and creators. The Preventing Deepfake Images Act (2025) adds civil and criminal remedies for nonconsensual intimate deepfakes. The Health Care AI Act (SB 1580, effective July 2026) prohibits developers and deployers of AI systems from misrepresenting their products as licensed mental health professionals, enforced through the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act. Tennessee has not enacted a general chatbot-disclosure law, a training-data opt-out regime, or an automated decision-making accountability statute; a sweeping 2026 AI regulation effort was pulled back in favor of a study with a January 2027 report deadline. The Federal Trade Commission Act Section 5 and Tennessee's Consumer Protection Act apply as general backstops against deceptive AI-related conduct.
Enacted law
Government obligations
| Instrument | Category | Effective | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Material Criminalization (Tenn. Code Ann. Title 39 (SB 741 / Sen. Yager, 114th General Assembly, signed April 24, 2025)) | Crawlers & training data | 2025-07-01 | WATE News (wate.com); KFVS12 (kfvs12.com); WSMV (wsmv.com); Mountain Press (themountainpress.com) |
| Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security (ELVIS) Act (Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-25-1101 et seq. (SB 2096, 113th General Assembly, 2024)) | Bot / agent disclosure, Crawlers & training data | 2024-07-01 | Tennessee General Assembly (wapp.capitol.tn.gov); ASCAP (ascap.com); Vanderbilt Law School (law.vanderbilt.edu) |
| Preventing Deepfake Images Act (Tenn. Code Ann. Title 28 and Title 39, Ch. 17 (HB 1299 / SB 1346, 114th General Assembly, Public Chapter 466, 2025)) | Bot / agent disclosure | 2025-07-01 | Tennessee General Assembly (capitol.tn.gov); Alston & Bird Privacy Blog (alstonprivacy.com); Skadden (skadden.com) |
Private sector obligations
| Instrument | Category | Effective | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI-Generated Child Sexual Abuse Material Criminalization (Tenn. Code Ann. Title 39 (SB 741 / Sen. Yager, 114th General Assembly, signed April 24, 2025)) | Crawlers & training data | 2025-07-01 | WATE News (wate.com); KFVS12 (kfvs12.com); WSMV (wsmv.com); Mountain Press (themountainpress.com) |
| Ensuring Likeness, Voice, and Image Security (ELVIS) Act (Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-25-1101 et seq. (SB 2096, 113th General Assembly, 2024)) | Bot / agent disclosure, Crawlers & training data | 2024-07-01 | Tennessee General Assembly (wapp.capitol.tn.gov); ASCAP (ascap.com); Vanderbilt Law School (law.vanderbilt.edu) |
| Health Care AI Act (AI Mental Health Professional Prohibition) (Tenn. Code Ann. Title 33; Title 47; Title 63 (SB 1580 / HB 1470, 114th General Assembly, Public Chapter 647, 2026)) | Bot / agent disclosure | 2026-07-01 | Troutman Privacy (troutmanprivacy.com); Tennessee General Assembly (capitol.tn.gov); Sheppard Mullin (sheppard.com) |
| Preventing Deepfake Images Act (Tenn. Code Ann. Title 28 and Title 39, Ch. 17 (HB 1299 / SB 1346, 114th General Assembly, Public Chapter 466, 2025)) | Bot / agent disclosure | 2025-07-01 | Tennessee General Assembly (capitol.tn.gov); Alston & Bird Privacy Blog (alstonprivacy.com); Skadden (skadden.com) |
Drafted & in discussion
| Instrument | Status | Applies to | Category | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SB 1493 — AI Companion-Bot Criminal Training Bill (SB 1493 / HB 1455, 114th General Assembly (enrolled April 30, 2026; transmitted to governor May 11, 2026)) | Proposed | Private sector | Bot / agent disclosure | National Law Review (natlawreview.com); BillTrack50 (billtrack50.com); Tennessee General Assembly (capitol.tn.gov) |
Automated-access legality
Carried forward from the crawler-law index. Governs whether automated clients may access public websites in this jurisdiction.
| Dimension | Value |
|---|---|
| Authorization test | effective consent |
| Public-page carve-out | yes |
| Terms-of-service browsewrap enforceable | notice dependent |
| Terms-of-service clickwrap enforceable | yes |
| Copyright exception model | fair use |
| Text and data mining — commercial status | unsettled |
| Text and data mining — opt-out mechanism | none |
| robots.txt legal weight | evidentiary |
| AI training-specific law | none |
| Privacy regime | TIPA |
| Trespass to chattels | not recognized |
Last reviewed: 2026-05-23. Confidence: medium. Not legal advice.