AI Laws in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
AI Laws USA tracks 41 AI rules that apply to people and businesses in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 10+ federal rules, 28 Pennsylvania state-level rules, and 3 local Philadelphia ordinances. Coverage is strongest on automated decision-making, government use of AI, consumer protection, and AI disclosure and transparency. 14 of these rules are already in effect. Each entry below links to its official source.
Philadelphia local AI rules (and Philadelphia County)
3 local AI rules specific to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania or Philadelphia County.
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Blocked / in litigation
Liu v. Willow Bridge/RealPage (Philadelphia)
Philadelphia, PA · Effective July 28, 2026 · Liu et al. v. Willow Bridge Property Co. & RealPage, Inc., Phila. County Ct. of Common Pleas (filed July 28, 2026)
Three class-action lawsuits were filed in Philadelphia's Court of Common Pleas on July 28, 2026 — the first known enforcement actions under Philadelphia's algorithmic rent-fixing ban (Bill 240823). Tenant Yiyao Liu and others sued Willow Bridge Property Co. (one of the largest U.S. residential property managers) and RealPage Inc., alleging Willow Bridge used RealPage's software to obtain rent recommendations derived from nonpublic competitor data in violation of the city ordinance. Plaintiffs seek treble damages or $2,000 statutory amount per violation, plus injunctive relief.
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In effect Strength: limited
School District of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA · Effective September 1, 2025 · School District of Philadelphia — Generative AI Guidelines (PASS program) (2025-09-01)
Approves Google Gemini and Adobe Express with Firefly in a 'walled garden' configuration so user data is not used to train external LLMs. Paired with a three-tier UPenn-developed PD program (PASS).
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In effect Strength: moderate
Philadelphia Bill 240823 — Algorithmic Rent-Fixing Ban
Philadelphia, PA · Effective November 13, 2024 · Philadelphia Bill No. 240823 (adopted Oct. 24, 2024; signed Nov. 13, 2024; effective Nov. 13, 2024)
Philadelphia's Bill 240823 (sponsored by Councilmember Nicolas O'Rourke, passed 17-0 on October 24, 2024 and signed November 13, 2024) bars landlords from using revenue-management software that pools private competitor leasing data to coordinate rents, with fines up to $2,000 per violation and a private right of action for tenants. On July 28, 2026 three class-action lawsuits were filed — the first known enforcement actions under the ordinance — against Willow Bridge Property Co. and RealPage Inc.
Pennsylvania-level AI rules most relevant to Philadelphia
28 Pennsylvania state rules apply to residents and businesses in Philadelphia. Showing the 8 most relevant to Philadelphia's local picture; 20 more are on the Pennsylvania jurisdiction page.
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Proposed / pending
House Bill 2512 — Banning surveillance pricing by rideshare
Pennsylvania · House Bill 2512 — Banning surveillance pricing by rideshare companies
Pennsylvania's House passed HB 2512 to prohibit transportation network companies (Uber/Lyft) from using consumers' personal data to set individualized 'surveillance' prices, now advancing to the Senate.
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In effect Strength: limited
PA Act 130 of 2022 (HAVs)
Pennsylvania · Effective November 3, 2022 · Act 130 of 2022; 75 Pa. C.S. Ch. 88
Pennsylvania's comprehensive AV law authorized fully driverless operation, created a PennDOT permitting regime for testing and commercial deployment, required incident reporting to PennDOT and State Police, and authorized 'highly automated work zone vehicles' and platooning. Pennsylvania had been an AV testing hub since 2016 under non-statutory PennDOT guidance; Act 130 finally codified the framework.
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Blocked / in litigation
PA v. Character.AI (Fake Psychiatrist Chatbot)
Pennsylvania · Effective May 1, 2026 · Commonwealth v. Character Technologies, Inc. (Pa. Commonwealth Ct., filed May 1, 2026)
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro filed suit in Commonwealth Court on May 1, 2026, alleging that Character.AI's companion chatbot 'Emilie' impersonated a licensed Pennsylvania psychiatrist and provided ongoing psychiatric advice and treatment to users without a license. The Shapiro administration seeks a preliminary injunction requiring Character.AI to clearly disclose that its chatbots are not licensed mental health professionals and cannot provide medical treatment.
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In effect Strength: limited
Penn State systemwide Generative AI Guidelines
Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) · Effective January 1, 2024 · Penn State systemwide Generative AI Guidelines
Penn State's systemwide AI guidelines set responsible-use rules covering FERPA/HIPAA compliance, output verification, accessibility review of AI tools, disclosure, and restrictions on AI-assisted grading across its multi-campus system.
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In effect Strength: limited
PA AG — GEICO AI Underwriting Settlement
Pennsylvania · Effective May 26, 2026 · Pennsylvania AG Investigation — GEICO AI Underwriting Settlement (May 26, 2026); AG David Sunday press release (05/26/2026)
Pennsylvania Attorney General David Sunday reached a settlement with GEICO Insurance in May 2026 after the state investigated GEICO's use of an AI-enabled underwriting review tool that canceled a new policyholder's auto insurance without adequate notice. GEICO's standard 60-day policy review for new customers uses an AI tool to select policyholders for additional underwriting scrutiny. When a West Philadelphia woman was selected for review, the process resulted in her policy being canceled — she believed she had submitted the required documents and was not informed otherwise, unknowingly driving uninsured. Under the settlement, GEICO agreed to give policyholders an extra week to respond to document requests during AI-triggered reviews, simplify residency verification requirements, and train customer service staff on the need for clarity in the process. GEICO also agreed to follow the Pennsylvania Insurance Department's published guidance on the use of AI by insurers.
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In effect Strength: limited
PA DOI AI Bulletin
PA · Effective April 6, 2024 · Pennsylvania ID Insurance Notice 2024-04 (54 Pa.B. 1910) (2024-04-06)
The PA Department of Insurance adopted the NAIC Model Bulletin on Use of Artificial Intelligence Systems by Insurers. Insurers licensed in PA must maintain a written AI program with governance, risk-management, testing, third-party-AI oversight, and documentation controls. The bulletin operationalizes existing unfair-trade-practice and unfair-discrimination law as applied to insurers' AI use cases — underwriting, pricing, claims, fraud detection, and marketing.
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In effect Strength: limited
AG Sunday Leads Coalition of 42 Attorneys General in Letter
Pennsylvania · Effective December 10, 2025 · AG Sunday Leads Coalition of 42 Attorneys General in Letter to A.I. Software Companies Demanding Safeguards to Protect Vulnerable Residents from Harmful Interactions with Bots
Pennsylvania AG Dave Sunday led a coalition of 42 state attorneys general demanding that major AI chatbot companies implement testing, recall procedures, and consumer warnings to protect vulnerable users, especially children, from harmful bot interactions.
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In effect Strength: limited
PA EO 2023-19 (GenAI)
PA · Effective September 20, 2023 · Pa. Exec. Order No. 2023-19 (Sept. 20, 2023)
Governor Shapiro's EO 2023-19 establishes Pennsylvania's Generative AI Governing Board and sets 10 core values (accuracy, adaptability, employee empowerment, equity and fairness, innovation, mission alignment, privacy, proportionality, safety and security, and transparency) that govern Commonwealth agencies' use of generative AI tools.
Federal AI rules that apply in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
These federal rules apply everywhere in the United States, including Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Showing the 10 strongest and most recent.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Are there AI laws in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania?
What federal AI rules apply in Philadelphia?
Does Pennsylvania have an AI privacy law?
Are deepfakes illegal in Pennsylvania?
Can my employer use AI to screen me for jobs in Philadelphia?
How do I report an AI law violation in Philadelphia?
Are facial recognition cameras allowed in Philadelphia?
Is Philadelphia regulated by Pennsylvania's consumer privacy act?
Have we missed an AI rule in Philadelphia?
This page is generated from our open civic dataset. If you know of a Philadelphia 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.