AI law in Rhode Island

Includes US federal law, which applies in every state. See also United States (federal).

Get the build plan for Rhode Island

The guards that cover the most here

46 guards address 64 items across 2 jurisdictions with binding law: 4 binding law in force, 2 enacted but not yet applying, 34 standards and frameworks, 24 TwinEthos recommended guardrails.

1. AI agent configured to pose as, or claim affiliation with, a government body or a business it does not represent

   Make the agent's persona, greeting, and scripts name only the operating organization, and never instruct it to claim a government or third-party business identity or endorsement.

   Addresses 1 item: 1 binding law in force

   Law in force in United States (federal) (US).

2. Health information sent to an external AI vendor without the contractual or legal basis the law requires

   Send identifiable health data only to AI endpoints registered with a signed BAA or processing agreement and retention and training off; otherwise de-identify first.

   Addresses 1 item: 1 binding law in force

   Law in force in United States (federal) (US).

3. More health information than the task needs is sent to an AI model

   Build AI prompts, context and fine-tuning rows from a per-task allowlist of health-record fields, never by serializing a whole patient record or FHIR bundle.

   Addresses 1 item: 1 binding law in force

   Law in force in United States (federal) (US).

4. Profiling for significant-effects decisions with no opt-out

   Store a consumer's profiling opt-out (and a Global Privacy Control signal where honored) and check it before profiling outputs feed any significant-effects decision.

   Addresses 1 item: 1 binding law in force

   Law in force in Rhode Island (US-RI).

5. AI chat interaction without disclosure

   Show an AI-identity notice at or before the first assistant turn, in the UI or as the opening message, and answer truthfully when asked if it is a bot.

   Addresses 4 items: 1 enacted, not yet applying · 2 standards · 1 recommended guardrail

   enacted, not yet applying in Rhode Island (US-RI); next date 2027-01-01.

6. Companion or conversational AI without a self-harm crisis protocol

   Screen every user message for suicidal ideation and self-harm, return a crisis referral instead of the normal reply on detection, and block encouragement or method content.

   Addresses 2 items: 1 enacted, not yet applying · 1 recommended guardrail

   enacted, not yet applying in Rhode Island (US-RI); next date 2027-01-01.

7. Adverse AI decision without explanation/appeal

   Send each adverse AI-assisted decision with its main reasons and the AI's role, plus a way to correct data and appeal to a human who can change the outcome.

   Addresses 3 items: 2 standards · 1 recommended guardrail

8. GenAI in consequential decisions without confabulation/output-validation controls

   Validate GenAI output against a schema and its cited sources, and send unverifiable claims to review, before it drives a consequential decision or record.

   Addresses 3 items: 2 standards · 1 recommended guardrail

9. GenAI with untracked third-party components (value chain)

   Keep an inventory of every third-party model, dataset, package, plugin, and MCP server with pinned versions, its reviewed model card or vendor due-diligence record, and an owner.

   Addresses 3 items: 2 standards · 1 recommended guardrail

10. Untrusted content influences instructions or tools

    Keep fetched, retrieved, and tool-returned content out of the system prompt, pass it as delimited data, and restrict which tools a turn holding that content can call.

    Addresses 3 items: 2 standards · 1 recommended guardrail

The top 10 of 46; the build plan ranks all of them and lets you narrow by AI feature.

By AI feature

Plans for one feature in Rhode Island:

• Chat or assistant
• Agents that use tools or take actions
• Decisions about people (hiring, credit, insurance, health)
• Generated text, images, audio or video
• Classification, scoring or biometrics

Laws

• FTC Impersonation Rule (16 CFR Part 461) United States (federal) (US)
• HIPAA Privacy Rule (45 CFR 160, 164 Subpart E) United States (federal) (US)
• Rhode Island ch. 6-64 (S 2195 / H 7350, AI companions) Rhode Island (US-RI)
• US State Privacy Laws — Profiling Opt-Out (Virginia-model) Colorado (US-CO), Connecticut (US-CT), Delaware (US-DE), Florida (US-FL), Indiana (US-IN), Kentucky (US-KY), Maryland (US-MD), Minnesota (US-MN), Montana (US-MT), Nebraska (US-NE), New Hampshire (US-NH), New Jersey (US-NJ), Oregon (US-OR), Rhode Island (US-RI), Tennessee (US-TN), Texas (US-TX), Virginia (US-VA)

Coming into force

• 1 Jan 2027: AI companions must have a protocol for suicide, self-harm and harm-to-others statements with an immediate referral (Rhode Island) (Rhode Island (US-RI))
• 1 Jan 2027: AI companions must tell users they are not talking to a human, at the start and every three hours (Rhode Island) (Rhode Island (US-RI))