AI Laws in Fargo, North Dakota
AI Laws USA tracks 17 AI rules that apply to people and businesses in Fargo, North Dakota: 10+ federal rules, 7 North Dakota state-level rules (no Fargo-specific ordinances are indexed yet). Coverage is strongest on consumer data privacy, deepfakes, AI-generated images, and government use of AI. 7 of these rules are already in effect. Each entry below links to its official source.
Fargo local AI rules (and Cass County)
No city- or county-specific AI ordinances are currently indexed for Fargo, North Dakota.
- No local entries yet: we don't currently index any Fargo-specific AI ordinances. Federal and North Dakota state rules still apply throughout the city. Have we missed something? Email feedback@ailawsusa.com.
North Dakota-level AI rules
7 North Dakota state rules apply to residents and businesses in Fargo. Sorted strongest first.
-
In effect Strength: limited
ND Sexually Explicit Deepfake Law
North Dakota · Effective August 1, 2025 · 2025 ND HB 1351; NDCC §§ 12.1-27.1-01(13), -03.3
North Dakota makes it a Class A misdemeanor to create, possess, or distribute nonconsensual sexually explicit deepfakes — including computer-generated intimate imagery. Victims can sue for up to $10,000 in statutory damages plus any profits the offender made.
-
In effect Strength: limited
Artificial Intelligence Guideline
North Dakota · Effective November 17, 2025 · Artificial Intelligence Guideline
North Dakota Information Technology's guideline outlines best practices for secure, private, and ethical use of AI, supplementing the state's AI Policy and requiring GRC risk assessment before AI business use.
-
In effect Strength: limited
ND 12.1-17-07 (using a robot/AI to harass is a crime)
North Dakota · Effective August 1, 2025 · N.D. Cent. Code 12.1-17-07; 2025 N.D. Laws (HB 1429)
North Dakota updated its harassment law so that using a 'robot' to harass someone is itself a crime. A robot here means an artificial object or system that senses, processes, and acts using technology, including artificial intelligence. A person commits harassment if they use such a robot to engage in offensive conduct that serves no legitimate purpose.
-
In effect Strength: limited
ND 12.1-17-07.1 (stalking via robot/AI, e.g. tracking, is a crime)
North Dakota · Effective August 1, 2025 · N.D. Cent. Code 12.1-17-07.1; 2025 N.D. Laws (HB 1429)
North Dakota extended its stalking law to cover stalking carried out with a 'robot,' including artificial intelligence systems. This reaches conduct such as using a robot to track a person without authorization. The change makes clear that automated or AI-driven tools cannot be used as a workaround to stalk someone.
-
In effect Strength: limited
ND HB 1167 (political ads using AI to impersonate must say so)
North Dakota · Effective August 1, 2025 · N.D. Cent. Code ch. 16.1-10; 2025 N.D. Laws (HB 1167)
North Dakota now requires a clear disclaimer on political advertising or communications that use artificial intelligence to visually or audibly impersonate a real person. Covered content must display the statement 'THIS CONTENT GENERATED BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.' The requirement targets AI impersonations in political video, audio, and images, and does not apply to ordinary tools like spell-check, grammar correction, or stylistic editing.
-
In effect Strength: limited
ND HB 1386 (CSAM laws cover computer-generated/AI images of minors)
North Dakota · Effective August 1, 2025 · N.D. Cent. Code 12.1-27.2-01, 12.1-27.2-04.1; 2025 N.D. Laws (HB 1386)
North Dakota expanded its child sexual abuse material laws to apply to computer-generated images depicting a minor engaged in sexual conduct. It revised the definition of 'minor' so that it includes a computer-generated image that appears to depict a person under 18. This closes a gap for AI-generated or synthetic imagery, so possessing such material is prohibited even when no real child was depicted.
-
In effect Strength: limited
ND HB 1613 (drone evidence limits extended to robots; no armed police robots)
North Dakota · Effective August 1, 2025 · N.D. Cent. Code ch. 29-29.4; 2025 N.D. Laws (HB 1613)
North Dakota expanded its surveillance-by-drone chapter so the same rules now apply to 'robots' — powered, AI-driven machines or systems that can operate on their own. Information that law enforcement gathers using a robot is subject to the same evidentiary limits that already apply to information gathered by a drone. The law also bars law enforcement from using a robot or a drone to deploy a weapon or otherwise use force.
Federal AI rules that apply in Fargo, North Dakota
These federal rules apply everywhere in the United States, including Fargo, North Dakota. Showing the 10 strongest and most recent.
-
In effect Strength: stronger
TVA data center capacity commitment charge (2026)
Tennessee Valley Authority · Effective October 1, 2026 · Tenn. Valley Auth. Bd. of Dirs. — Data Center Capacity Commitment Charge (approved Aug. 20, 2026; eff. Oct. 1, 2026)
The Tennessee Valley Authority's Board of Directors approved a separate, higher wholesale rate for data centers on August 20, 2026, effective October 1. New or expanding data center loads above 5 megawatts now fall under a Capacity Commitment Charge attached to TVA's data center rate schedules, designed to recover the incremental capacity costs those customers impose on the system. The headline figures are substantial: upfront capacity commitment charges of roughly $1.5 million per megawatt, payable over three to five years, and an all-in average billing increase for data center customers of about 10%, phased in across three consecutive fiscal years. The stated purpose is to keep residential rates low while still serving growing data center demand. TVA matters here out of proportion to a single utility. It is a federal corporate agency supplying power across seven states, so this is not a state rate case but a regional cost-allocation decision reaching a large share of the Southeast — and TVA is among the first large US utilities to adopt a tariff aimed specifically at AI-driven load. Where most 2026 measures in this dataset restrict where data centers may be built, this one changes what they pay to run.
-
In effect Strength: stronger
Bartz v. Anthropic
N.D. Cal. · Effective September 5, 2025 · Bartz v. Anthropic PBC, No. 3:24-cv-05417 (N.D. Cal.)
Authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber, and Kirk Wallace Johnson sued Anthropic over its use of pirated-book datasets to train Claude. In June 2025 Judge William Alsup ruled that training on lawfully purchased books was fair use. The piracy claims (LibGen ingestion) proceeded toward settlement; in September 2025 Anthropic agreed to a $1.5 billion class settlement covering ~500,000 works. Judge Alsup granted preliminary approval September 25, 2025 and final approval July 20, 2026. The appeal period runs through August 19, 2026; class members will not receive payments until at least end of 2026.
-
In effect Strength: stronger
COPPA + 2025 Rule (childrens data)
United States · Effective June 23, 2025 · 15 U.S.C. §§ 6501–6506; 16 C.F.R. Part 312
COPPA requires online services aimed at children under 13 to get verifiable parental consent before collecting kids' personal data. The 2025 rule update — fully in effect since April 22, 2026 — adds biometric identifiers (like face templates and voiceprints, which matter for AI tools), requires separate parental consent before sharing children's data for targeted advertising, and tightens data retention limits.
-
In effect Strength: stronger
TAKE IT DOWN Act
United States · Effective May 19, 2025 · Pub. L. No. 119-12 (S. 146)
Makes it a federal crime to knowingly publish intimate images of someone without consent, including AI-generated deepfakes. Social media and similar platforms must give victims a way to request removal and must take the content (and known copies) down within 48 hours. The platform removal requirement became enforceable May 19, 2026, and the FTC has already begun enforcement.
-
Blocked / in litigation
NetChoice v. Yost (Ohio)
S.D. Ohio · Effective April 16, 2025 · NetChoice, LLC v. Yost, No. 2:24-cv-00047 (S.D. Ohio Apr. 16, 2025)
Ohio's Social Media Parental Notification Act — requiring parental consent for minors' social-media use, including algorithmic feeds — was preliminarily enjoined on February 12, 2024, then permanently enjoined on April 16, 2025 when the district court granted summary judgment for NetChoice. The state appealed to the Sixth Circuit, which vacated the district court's injunction in 2026.
-
In effect Strength: stronger
Thaler v. Perlmutter (Copyright)
D.C. Cir. · Effective March 18, 2025 · Thaler v. Perlmutter, 130 F.4th 1039 (D.C. Cir. 2025)
The companion copyright case: Stephen Thaler sought to register a copyright with 'Creativity Machine' (his AI) as the author. The D.C. Circuit affirmed in March 2025 that the Copyright Act's human-authorship requirement is dispositive as a matter of statutory law. AI cannot be a copyright author under U.S. law.
-
In effect Strength: stronger
Louis v. SafeRent
D. Mass. · Effective November 20, 2024 · Louis v. SafeRent Solutions, LLC, No. 1:22-cv-10800 (D. Mass.)
SafeRent agreed in November 2024 to a $2.275M settlement and a five-year ban on using its 'SafeRent Score' for housing-voucher applicants, after a class action alleged its AI tenant-screening tool systematically denied housing to Black and Hispanic Section 8 voucher holders. The first major AI tenant-screening Fair Housing Act settlement.
-
In effect Strength: stronger
FTC Impersonation Rule (AI)
United States · Effective April 1, 2024 · 16 C.F.R. Part 461; 89 Fed. Reg. 15017
The FTC's Impersonation Rule lets the agency directly sue scammers who pretend to be a government agency or a real business — including those who use AI-cloned voices or generated images to do so. Civil penalties can reach $53,088 per violation. The FTC also issued a supplemental notice in February 2024 proposing to extend the rule to all individual impersonation.
-
In effect Strength: stronger
FTC v. Rite Aid
FTC · Effective February 26, 2024 · FTC v. Rite Aid Corp., No. 2:23-cv-05023 (E.D. Pa. Dec. 19, 2023)
The FTC banned Rite Aid from using facial-recognition technology in its stores for five years after finding the pharmacy chain's FRT system falsely tagged customers — disproportionately women and people of color — as shoplifters, leading to wrongful detentions and humiliations.
-
In effect Strength: stronger
TCPA (AI voice calls)
United States · Effective February 8, 2024 · 47 U.S.C. § 227; FCC 24-17
Robocalls using AI-cloned or AI-generated voices are treated like other 'artificial voice' calls: callers need your prior express consent, must identify themselves, and must offer opt-outs for telemarketing. You can personally sue violators for $500 to $1,500 per illegal call.
Frequently asked questions about AI laws in Fargo, North Dakota
Are there AI laws in Fargo, North Dakota?
What federal AI rules apply in Fargo?
Does North Dakota have an AI privacy law?
Are deepfakes illegal in North Dakota?
Can my employer use AI to screen me for jobs in Fargo?
How do I report an AI law violation in Fargo?
Are facial recognition cameras allowed in Fargo?
Is Fargo regulated by North Dakota's consumer privacy act?
Have we missed an AI rule in Fargo?
This page is generated from our open civic dataset. If you know of a Fargo ordinance, county rule, or local enforcement action we should add, email feedback@ailawsusa.com or submit a correction. Every entry must include a verifiable source.