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AI Laws in Minnesota
As of 2026-08-12, AI Laws USA tracks 23 AI rules in Minnesota: 12 state-level rules and 11 county or city rules. Federal AI protections apply statewide on top of these — see the federal page. Each entry links to its official source.
Minnesota state-level AI rules (12)
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In effect
MN drone-warrant law (2020)
Minnesota · Effective 2020-08-01 · Minn. Stat. § 626.19
Minnesota requires police to get a search warrant before using a drone, with narrow exceptions, and to publish an annual public report listing every drone deployment, purpose, and cost. The annual transparency requirement is among the strongest in any state drone law.
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In effect
Attorney General Ellison releases consumer alert on DHS' digital surveillance an
MN · Effective 2026-01-15 · Attorney General Ellison releases consumer alert on DHS' digital surveillance and how to protect your privacy (2026-01-15)
Ellison alert and online reporting tool warn residents about AI-powered ID/tracking using biometric, app, and vehicle data; recommends disabling FaceID/TouchID. Follows expert filings in Kohls v. Ellison deepfake case.
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In effect
Minnesota HF 2432 (AI-generated CSAM)
Minnesota · Effective 2025-08-01 · Minn. Stat. 617.246; Laws 2025, ch. 35 (HF 2432)
Minnesota expanded its child sexual abuse material law to cover images produced with generative AI. The definition now reaches a visual depiction of someone indistinguishable from an actual minor that is created by feeding prompts into generative AI or similar technology, shows the person engaged in sexual conduct, and is obscene. This closes a gap so that synthetic, AI-generated imagery can be prosecuted under the existing CSAM framework.
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In effect
Minnesota Consumer Data Privacy Act
Minnesota · Effective 2025-07-31 · 2024 Minn. Laws ch. 123 (HF 4757); Minn. Stat. §§ 325M.01–.21
Minnesota's privacy law gives residents data rights plus something unique: the right to question automated profiling decisions with significant effects — including the right to know why the decision was made and what would change the outcome. Full AG enforcement began February 2026.
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In effect
Minnesota State systemwide Generative AI guidance and approv
Minnesota State (Minnesota State Colleges and Universities) · Effective 2025-07-03 · Minnesota State systemwide Generative AI guidance and approved-tools policy
Minnesota State issues systemwide generative-AI guidance authorizing secured tools like Microsoft Copilot, blocking services such as Otter.AI and Fireflies.AI for security, and ensuring system data is not used to train external AI models.
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In effect
Minnesota SF 4097 (social-media algorithm disclosure)
Minnesota · Effective 2025-07-01 · Minn. Stat. 325M.30-325M.34; Laws 2024, ch. 114, art. 3, sec. 63 (SF 4097)
Minnesota requires large social media platforms to publicly explain how their algorithmic ranking systems decide what users see. Among other things, a platform must disclose how its own content-quality judgments and a user's stated content preferences are weighted against other ranking signals. The rules apply to platforms doing business in or targeting Minnesotans that have more than 10,000 monthly active users.
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In effect
Public Artificial Intelligence Services Security Standard
Minnesota · Effective 2024-01-01 · Public Artificial Intelligence Services Security Standard
Minnesota IT Services set a security standard governing state employees' use of public AI services (such as ChatGPT), restricting inputs to public/low-classification data and setting guardrails to prevent breaches of private or sensitive information.
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Blocked / in litigation
MN HF 1370 (partially enjoined)
MN · Effective 2023-08-01 · Minn. Stat. ch. 58 (2023); Kohls v. Ellison, No. 0:24-cv-03754 (D. Minn.)
Minnesota HF 1370 criminalized election deepfakes (it remains in effect for non-consensual intimate imagery). The election-deepfake portions were challenged in Kohls v. Ellison (D. Minn. No. 0:24-cv-03754). The district court denied the preliminary injunction on January 10, 2025, and the Eighth Circuit upheld that denial on appeal. The law is currently in effect pending further litigation.
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In effect
MN Deepfake Law
Minnesota · Effective 2023-08-01 · 2023 Minn. Laws ch. 58 (HF 1370); Minn. Stat. §§ 617.261, 211B.16
Minnesota criminalized two kinds of AI deepfakes in 2023: nonconsensual intimate deepfakes of anyone, and election deepfakes of candidates distributed within 90 days of an election without consent. Victims of intimate deepfakes can also sue. X Corp. has challenged the election provision in court.
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Proposed / pending
SF4203
MN · MN SF4203 (94th Legislature 2025-2026)
Exemption of data centers modification for sales and use tax
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Proposed / pending
SF5231
MN · MN SF5231 (94th Legislature 2025-2026)
Data centers tax exemption repeal; contingent reduction in special education aid appropriation repeal
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Proposed / pending
HF5125
MN · MN HF5125 (94th Legislature 2025-2026)
Data centers sales and use tax exemption repealed, and contingent reduction in special education aid appropriations repealed.
County and city AI rules in Minnesota (11)
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In effect
Minneapolis rejects Skydio DFR contract 6-6 (Jul. 16, 2026)
Minneapolis, MN · Effective 2026-07-16 · Minneapolis City Council 6-6 deadlock, July 16, 2026, rejecting MPD Skydio drone-as-first-responder contract
On July 16, 2026, the Minneapolis City Council deadlocked 6-6 on a proposed contract with drone maker Skydio for a police drone-as-first-responder (DFR) program, killing the deal. The vote followed a 75-day free trial Skydio provided the Minneapolis Police Department in north Minneapolis. Council opposition centered on Skydio's sales to ICE and to Israel, and on data-leak concerns. The rejection ends, for now, MPD's path to a permanent DFR program, making Minneapolis one of the larger US cities to decline a police drone contract after piloting one.
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In effect
Minneapolis algorithmic rent ban (Ord. 2025-010, eff. Mar 1, 2026)
Minneapolis, MN · Effective 2026-03-01 · Minneapolis Ord. 2025-010 (File 2024-01399), adding § 244.2070 to City Code, eff. March 1, 2026
Minneapolis City Council adopted Ordinance 2025-010 amending Title 12, Chapter 244 of the City Code to add Section 244.2070, prohibiting residential landlords from using algorithmic devices that employ nonpublic competitor data to recommend rental pricing or vacancy strategies. Effective March 1, 2026. A White House report estimated Twin Cities renters paid on average $324 more per unit annually due to pricing algorithms, with the national total exceeding $3.8 billion. Private right of action; license revocation possible for landlord violations.
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Enacted (not yet in effect)
Minneapolis Data Center Moratorium
Minneapolis, MN · Minneapolis, Minn., interim data center moratorium (May 22, 2026)
On May 22, 2026 the Minneapolis City Council voted 8–5 to impose a six-month moratorium on new large data centers while the city studies environmental and grid impacts and drafts zoning regulations. The pause targets facilities larger than 350,000 square feet and exempts smaller downtown developments — a size- and location-limited pause, not a total ban.
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In effect
Minneapolis FR Ban
Minneapolis, MN · Minneapolis, Minn., FR Ban Ordinance (Feb. 12, 2021)
Minneapolis bans city departments, including the police department, from procuring facial recognition technology or using data derived from it, with a council-approved exceptions process and annual reporting. No repeal or weakening amendment was found — the ordinance appears to remain in effect as of June 2026.
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In effect
Rochester MN $467,290 Axon DFR contract (Jul. 2026)
Rochester, MN · Effective 2026-07-06 · Rochester, MN City Council unanimous vote (Jul. 2026) authorizing $467,290 five-year Axon drone-as-first-responder contract (2 drones, 2 docking stations; Mayo grant funded)
The Rochester, Minnesota City Council unanimously authorized a $467,290 contract with Axon for a police drone-as-first-responder program — two drones and two docking stations over a five-year term, funded by a Mayo grant rather than city general funds. This entry indexes a government drone deployment; coverage reports no specific oversight, retention, or privacy conditions attached to the contract.
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In effect
One-year moratorium on data center development (Inver Grove Heights MN)
Inver Grove Heights · Effective 2026-06-26 · Inver Grove Heights interim moratorium ordinance on data centers (June 26, 2026)
Inver Grove Heights City Council voted 3-2 on June 26, 2026 to approve a one-year interim moratorium on new data center development while the city studies zoning, infrastructure, and land-use impacts. The vote came after a developer with a pending proposal at the former Travel Tags property on Carmen Avenue threatened more than $150 million in damages if the moratorium passed.
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In effect
Six-month moratorium on data centers >350,000 sq ft (Minneapolis)
Minneapolis · Effective 2026-05-22 · Minneapolis interim data center moratorium ordinance (May 22, 2026)
Six-month moratorium on the construction, re-establishment, or expansion of data centers larger than 350,000 square feet anywhere in Minneapolis. As an interim ordinance, it took effect immediately and did not require the mayor's signature. Exempts data center projects under 350,000 sq ft within the downtown core.
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In effect
Saint Paul Public Schools
Saint Paul, MN · Effective 2024-10-08 · Saint Paul Public Schools — Generative AI Acceptable Use Guidance (2024-10-08)
Guidance designates Google Gemini, NotebookLM, Seesaw, and Schoology PowerBuddy as approved AI tools for staff (offered through district accounts with enterprise protections), bars use of consumer AI tools with student data, requires teacher disclosure to families when AI is used for instructional design, and prohibits AI-generated discipline recommendations without administrator review.
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In effect
Minneapolis Public Schools
Minneapolis, MN · Effective 2024-09-04 · Minneapolis Public Schools — AI Guidance for Educators (2024-09-04)
District-issued educator guidance: vetted tool list, ban on entering student IEP or behavior data into generative AI, AI must not be sole basis for academic placement or discipline, recommended classroom disclosure when AI is used to create materials.
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In effect
Ordinance banning city and police department use of facial r
Minneapolis, MN · Effective 2021-02-12 · Ordinance banning city and police department use of facial recognition technology
Minneapolis' City Council voted 13-0 to bar all city agencies, including the police department, from acquiring or using facial recognition technology or data derived from it.
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Proposed / pending
Use of Algorithms in Rental Rates Ordinance
Minneapolis, MN · Use of Algorithms in Rental Rates Ordinance
Minneapolis (third US city, 11-2 vote in March 2025) prohibits owners from using 'algorithmic devices' relying on non-public competitor data to set rents or occupancy, enforced through rental-license self-attestation and a tenant private right of action, effective March 1, 2026.
Minnesota city guides
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