AI Laws in Rochester, New York
AI Laws USA tracks 52 AI rules that apply to people and businesses in Rochester, New York: 10+ federal rules, 41 New York state-level rules, and 1 local Rochester ordinance. Coverage is strongest on automated decision-making, government use of AI, consumer protection, and deepfakes. 28 of these rules are already in effect. Each entry below links to its official source.
Rochester local AI rules (and Monroe County)
1 local AI rule specific to Rochester, New York or Monroe County.
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In effect Strength: stronger
NY School FR Moratorium (Rochester effects)
Rochester, NY · Effective December 22, 2020 · Part BB of ch. 56 of Laws of 2020; N.Y. Educ. Law 2-d-1
New York State law triggered by Lockport City SD's facial recognition deployment bars schools statewide — including Rochester-area districts — from acquiring or using biometric identifying technology without state authorization.
New York-level AI rules most relevant to Rochester
41 New York state rules apply to residents and businesses in Rochester. Showing the 8 most relevant to Rochester's local picture; 33 more are on the New York jurisdiction page.
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In effect Strength: limited
Commissioner's Determination Prohibiting Facial Recognition
New York State Education Department · Effective September 27, 2023 · Commissioner's Determination Prohibiting Facial Recognition Technology in Schools
NYSED Commissioner Betty Rosa issued a statewide determination prohibiting all New York public and nonpublic schools from purchasing or using facial recognition technology, while leaving other biometric tools to local discretion subject to privacy and civil-rights review.
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In effect Strength: limited
New York Biometrics in Schools Ban (statewide prohibition on
New York State (Education Law / biometrics ban) · Effective September 1, 2023 · New York Biometrics in Schools Ban (statewide prohibition on facial recognition purchase/use)
Effective September 2023 following the NYSED Commissioner determination, all New York schools are prohibited from purchasing or using facial recognition technology, making NY the first state with such a comprehensive school ban.
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In effect Strength: limited
SUNY Systemwide Artificial Intelligence Policy
State University of New York (SUNY) · Effective April 30, 2026 · SUNY Systemwide Artificial Intelligence Policy
SUNY's Board of Trustees approved a systemwide AI policy requiring all 64 campuses to adopt AI governance, bias evaluation, data-privacy safeguards, and heightened oversight of high-risk systems affecting students by December 31, 2026.
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In effect Strength: limited
SUNY generative-AI education initiative (Empire AI / systemw
State University of New York (SUNY) · Effective May 9, 2024 · SUNY generative-AI education initiative (Empire AI / systemwide AI chatbot program)
New York and SUNY launched a systemwide generative-AI education program described as the largest LLM-enabled education system, providing customized tutoring while pledging to protect privacy and academic integrity.
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Proposed / pending
MTA AI Video Analytics Solicitation for Subway Camera Monito
New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) · MTA AI Video Analytics Solicitation for Subway Camera Monitoring (Suspicious/Problematic Behavior Detection)
The MTA solicited vendors for AI computer-vision software to analyze feeds from its 15,000+ subway cameras to flag weapons, unattended items, and dangerous behavior, while stating facial recognition will not be used.
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Enacted (not yet in effect) Strength: stronger
New York SAFE for Kids Act final rules (2026)
New York · Effective January 25, 2027 · N.Y. Off. of the Att'y Gen., SAFE for Kids Act Final Rules (July 28, 2026) (Act eff. Jan. 25, 2027)
New York's Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act got its final implementing rules on July 28, 2026, released jointly by Attorney General Letitia James and Governor Kathy Hochul. The Act itself takes effect January 25, 2027. What makes these rules significant is that they put numbers on age assurance where almost every other regime says only that a method must be 'reasonable.' The rules set an Accuracy Minimum: a method's false positive rate must be no more than 0.1% for minors aged 0 to 7, 1% for ages 8 to 13, 2% for ages 14 to 15, 8% for age 16 and 15% for age 17, excluding cases where a user refuses or fails to provide data and cases where the result is inconclusive. The method must also detect attempts to circumvent it at a rate of 98% or better. A second standard, the Total Accuracy Minimum, applies the same percentage ceilings to false positives and inconclusive outcomes combined — closing the obvious gap, since a method could otherwise hit its accuracy target by returning 'inconclusive' whenever it was unsure. Social media companies must pick a method meeting these rates, test it annually, and keep the test results for at least five years. The graduated thresholds are the design insight: being wrong about a seven-year-old is treated as far more serious than being wrong about a seventeen-year-old.
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Enacted (not yet in effect) Strength: limited
NY PSC utility AI inquiry (Case 26-M-0552)
New York · Enacted September 17, 2026 · N.Y. Pub. Serv. Comm'n, Case 26-M-0552, Order Instituting Proceeding on Utility Use of Artificial Intelligence (Sept. 17, 2026 session)
New York's Public Service Commission ordered the state's regulated utilities to file a complete inventory of how they use artificial intelligence and to disclose the policies and procedures that govern it. The commission said AI systems can hallucinate, show bias, have privacy and cybersecurity problems, and create growing dependency on AI vendors, which could threaten the safety and reliability of critical infrastructure. Utilities must file an initial inventory within 60 days and report twice a year after that, and the commission will judge their safeguards against common AI governance frameworks.
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In effect Strength: limited
NY AV testing pilot
New York · Effective April 20, 2017 · Part FF, Ch. 55, Laws of 2017 (uncodified session law)
New York requires AV operators to obtain DMV pilot-program authorization, maintain a licensed human safety driver behind the wheel, post a $5 million insurance bond, and coordinate with State Police for each test deployment. New York remains one of the most restrictive states — fully driverless operation is not authorized as of 2026.
Federal AI rules that apply in Rochester, New York
These federal rules apply everywhere in the United States, including Rochester, New York. 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 Rochester, New York
Are there AI laws in Rochester, New York?
What federal AI rules apply in Rochester?
Does New York have an AI privacy law?
Are deepfakes illegal in New York?
Can my employer use AI to screen me for jobs in Rochester?
How do I report an AI law violation in Rochester?
Are facial recognition cameras allowed in Rochester?
Is Rochester regulated by New York's consumer privacy act?
Compliance guides for New York businesses
Plain-English guides to the New York AI and data laws companies most often need to comply with:
Have we missed an AI rule in Rochester?
This page is generated from our open civic dataset. If you know of a Rochester 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.