Mississippi AI Laws and Regulation (2026)

Mississippi has no comprehensive AI law. The state takes a study-first approach: SB 2426 (2025) created the Artificial Intelligence Regulation Task Force to recommend policy through 2027. Two enacted laws address specific harms: SB 2577 (2024) criminalizes political deepfakes near elections, and HB 1126 (2024) covers AI-generated child exploitation material.

Mississippi is navigating the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence regulation through a measured, study-first approach. Rather than rushing to enact sweeping AI rules, the state has created a dedicated task force to evaluate risks and opportunities before recommending legislation.

This guide covers every enacted AI-related law in Mississippi, pending legislation in the 2026 session, executive actions, and how federal AI policy affects the state. Whether you are a developer, business owner, or legal professional, this is your comprehensive resource for understanding Mississippi's approach to AI governance.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Consult a licensed Mississippi attorney for guidance on specific situations.

Mississippi's AI Regulatory Framework

Mississippi has taken a deliberate approach to AI regulation. The state has no comprehensive AI law on the books, but it has enacted targeted measures addressing deepfakes and child protection while establishing a task force to study broader AI policy needs.

Executive Order 1584: The Foundation

On January 8, 2025, Governor Tate Reeves signed Executive Order 1584, Mississippi's first executive action specifically addressing artificial intelligence. The order represented a significant step in establishing a statewide AI strategy.

Executive Order 1584 directed the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services (ITS) to take several concrete actions. ITS must conduct a comprehensive inventory of all AI technologies being planned, piloted, acquired, developed, or utilized by every state agency. The department must also evaluate existing processes, guidelines, and procurement practices related to AI across the state government.

The order established guiding principles for state AI policy. All policy recommendations must address fairness, innovation, security, safety, transparency, accountability, accessibility, validity, reliability, and privacy. Governor Reeves stated that "AI isn't going anywhere" and that Mississippi needed to embrace the technology responsibly.

The ITS Acceptable Use Policy

Following the executive order, ITS approved its AI Acceptable Use Policy on November 25, 2025. This policy established the agency's first comprehensive framework governing how AI may be used within ITS operations. While the policy applies specifically to the ITS agency rather than to the entire state government or private sector, it serves as a model for other state agencies developing their own AI guidelines.

The AI Regulation Task Force (SB 2426)

Senate Bill 2426, passed during the 2025 Regular Session, created the Artificial Intelligence Regulation (AIR) Task Force. This is the centerpiece of Mississippi's approach to AI governance.

Task Force Composition

The task force consists of seven voting members with expertise spanning technology, security, and law enforcement:

• Two co-chairs appointed by the Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the House (one from each legislative chamber)
• The Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services
• The Director of the Mississippi Artificial Intelligence Network (MAIN)
• The Executive Director of the Mississippi Office of Homeland Security
• The Adjutant General of the Mississippi National Guard
• The Attorney General of Mississippi

The co-chairs may also appoint ex-officio nonvoting members to serve in an advisory capacity.

Task Force Duties

The Legislature acknowledged in SB 2426 that "artificial intelligence cannot replace human creativity and involvement" and that the state must promote responsible AI use while maintaining citizen trust and balancing benefits against risks.

The task force is charged with evaluating AI applications and risks, reviewing national and state AI policies, and developing potential regulatory revisions to the Mississippi Code. These revisions may address fostering innovation, regulatory oversight of AI deployment, and stakeholder collaboration.

Timeline and Reports

The task force operates from 2025 through December 31, 2027, and must produce three annual reports. The first report was released on January 13, 2026, through the Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER).

A notable finding from the task force's initial hearings: speakers from multiple sectors advised holding off on AI-specific legislation at this early stage, warning against setting up regulatory roadblocks that could hinder innovation.

Deepfake Laws in Mississippi

Mississippi has enacted two key laws addressing AI-generated synthetic media, targeting both election manipulation and child exploitation.

SB 2577: Political Deepfake Law (2024)

Senate Bill 2577, signed into law in April 2024 and effective July 1, 2024, created criminal penalties for the wrongful dissemination of "digitizations," commonly known as deepfakes. The law added a new section to Title 97, Chapter 13 of the Mississippi Code.

What the Law Defines as a "Digitization"

The statute defines a "digitization" as:

• Altering an image or audio in a realistic manner using an image or audio of a person other than the person depicted
• Computer-generated images or audio (deepfakes)
• Creating an image or audio through software, machine learning, artificial intelligence, or any other computer-generated or technological means

When Dissemination Becomes Criminal

Publishing or distributing a digitization is illegal under SB 2577 when all of these conditions are met:

• The content is disseminated without the depicted individual's consent
• The dissemination occurs within 90 days of an election
• The person acts with intent to injure a candidate, influence election results, or deter voting

Penalties for Political Deepfakes

The enhanced penalty tier reflects the Legislature's view that deepfakes intended to suppress voting or incite violence, and repeat violations, pose the greatest threat to democratic processes.

HB 1126: Protecting Children from AI-Generated Exploitation (2024)

The Walker Montgomery Protecting Children Online Act (HB 1126), signed by the Governor and effective July 1, 2024, strengthened Mississippi's child exploitation laws to address AI-generated content.

The law amended Section 97-5-31 of the Mississippi Code to include computer-generated and morphed images depicting minor children in an explicit nature within the crime of child exploitation. This ensures that AI-generated child sexual abuse material (CSAM) carries the same penalties as traditional CSAM, closing a potential loophole where offenders might argue that no real child was harmed.

Beyond AI-specific provisions, HB 1126 also requires digital services to verify user ages through "commercially reasonable effort" and obtain parental consent for users under 18. The law has faced ongoing First Amendment litigation in federal court.

HB 1723: Defining Artificial Intelligence (2026)

On March 9, 2026, Governor Reeves signed HB 1723, establishing Mississippi's first statutory definition of artificial intelligence. The bill passed the House on February 4, 2026, with a vote of 87 to 22.

The Definition

Under HB 1723, "artificial intelligence" means a machine-based system that can, for a given set of human-defined objectives, make predictions, recommendations, or decisions influencing real or virtual environments. AI systems use machine- and human-based inputs to perceive real and virtual environments, abstract such perceptions into models through automated analysis, and use model inference to formulate options for information or action.

This definition closely tracks the federal definition used in the National AI Initiative Act, providing consistency for businesses operating across state lines. The definition took effect on July 1, 2026.

The act directs that "Section 1 of this act shall be codified in Chapter 3, Title 1, Mississippi Code of 1972," the general statutory-construction chapter. That placement matters: the definition sits in the code's general definitions rather than inside any regulatory program, so it is available to any future sector bill without itself imposing a single obligation on anyone.

Why This Matters

Having a statutory definition of AI is a foundational step. Future legislation regulating AI in specific sectors (healthcare, employment, education) can reference this definition for legal clarity. Rep. Jill Ford, Chair of the House Technology Committee, noted that the definition was developed through the Legislative AI Task Force with guidance from other state and federal policies.

AI in Employment and Hiring

Mississippi has not enacted any laws specifically regulating the use of artificial intelligence in employment decisions, hiring processes, or automated employment screening tools. The state has no equivalent to New York City's Local Law 144 (requiring bias audits for automated employment decision tools), Colorado's SB 24-205 (which would have regulated high-risk AI systems including those used in employment, before it was repealed and replaced by the narrower SB 26-189 ADMT Act), or Illinois's AI Video Interview Act.

The AIR Task Force may recommend employment-related AI regulations in future reports, but as of September 2026, Mississippi employers face no state-specific AI hiring mandates. Federal anti-discrimination laws (Title VII, the ADA, and the ADEA) still apply to hiring decisions made with AI assistance, and the EEOC has issued guidance on AI-related discrimination.

AI in Healthcare

Mississippi does not currently have enacted laws governing AI use in healthcare settings. However, the 2026 legislative session introduced a significant proposal.

HB 1717: The Medical Judgment Protection Act (Died in Committee)

HB 1717, the Medical Judgment Protection Act, was introduced during the 2026 session but died in the House Public Health and Human Services Committee on February 3, 2026, without a vote. Had it passed, it would have established several important requirements for AI use in healthcare.

As introduced, the bill would have required healthcare providers and facilities to disclose when AI materially contributes to diagnoses, treatment plans, or clinical notes, and would have required a licensed clinician to review and approve any AI-generated output before it is finalized, so that AI supports rather than replaces professional medical judgment.

Key provisions as introduced included:

• Patient notice requirements: Patients would need to be informed when AI is involved in their care
• Prohibition on automated denials: Insurance companies and other payers would be barred from using AI to automatically deny or delay medical service coverage or payment
• Audit trail requirements: Healthcare facilities would need to maintain tamper-resistant audit logs capturing the identity of the reviewing clinician
• Annual reporting: Payers would need to submit annual reports on their AI usage to the Mississippi Department of Insurance

The bill would need to be reintroduced in a future session to become law.

AI Legislation Considered in the 2026 Session

Beyond HB 1723 (signed into law), Mississippi's 2026 legislative session saw several other AI-related bills introduced, all of which died in committee without becoming law.

SB 2050: AI Disclosure in Political Advertising (Died in Committee)

Senate Bill 2050, authored by Senator Bradford Blackmon (D-Canton), would have mandated that political advertisements disclose if AI was used in their creation. The bill passed the Senate on February 10, 2026, and was transmitted to the House, where it was referred to the House Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency Committee. It died in that committee on March 3, 2026, and was not enacted.

Had it passed, this would have complemented the existing SB 2577 deepfake law by addressing transparency in political advertising more broadly, rather than only criminalizing deceptive deepfakes near elections.

SB 2046: Right to Name, Likeness, and Voice (Died in Committee)

Senate Bill 2046, the Mississippians' Right to Name, Likeness and Voice Act, would have established legal protections for individuals' name, likeness, and voice in the AI era. The bill treated these personal attributes as a form of transferable intellectual property and would have created a damages framework around unauthorized digital use.

This legislation addressed growing concerns about AI systems that can clone voices, replicate appearances, and generate synthetic representations of real people without their consent. The bill passed the Senate on February 11, 2026, and was referred to the House Judiciary A Committee, but it died in committee on March 3, 2026, and was not enacted.

How Federal AI Policy Affects Mississippi

Mississippi's AI landscape is shaped significantly by federal actions, especially given the state's decision to study the issue before enacting comprehensive regulation.

The TAKE IT DOWN Act

The TAKE IT DOWN Act (P.L. 119-12), signed into law in May 2025, is the first federal law directly regulating AI-generated content. It criminalizes the creation and distribution of nonconsensual intimate deepfakes. As enacted, publishing such a depiction carries imprisonment of not more than 2 years where the person depicted is an adult and not more than 3 years where the person depicted is a minor; threatening to publish a digital forgery carries not more than 18 months and not more than 30 months respectively. This law applies nationwide, including in Mississippi, providing a baseline of protection that supplements Mississippi's existing deepfake laws.

Trump Executive Order 14179

President Trump's Executive Order 14179 (January 23, 2025) revoked the Biden administration's more prescriptive EO 14110 and adopted a deregulatory stance emphasizing innovation and American AI leadership. This "light-touch" federal approach leaves more room for states like Mississippi to set their own AI policies.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act

The federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act, H.R. 1, was signed into law on July 4, 2025 as Public Law 119-21. An early version of the bill included a proposed moratorium on state AI legislation, but that provision was stripped from the bill in the Senate before final passage. The enacted law does not restrict Mississippi's or any other state's authority to regulate AI, though the AIR Task Force continues to monitor federal developments that could affect state authority in the future.

Federal Anti-Discrimination Framework

The EEOC, Department of Labor, and other federal agencies have issued guidance on how existing civil rights laws apply to AI-assisted decision-making. These guidelines apply to Mississippi employers and institutions using AI, even without state-specific AI regulations.

Mississippi Artificial Intelligence Network (MAIN)

The Mississippi Artificial Intelligence Network (MAIN) plays a unique role in the state's AI landscape. MAIN's director serves as a voting member of the AIR Task Force, bridging the gap between the technology sector and legislative oversight.

MAIN has been involved in publishing analysis of the task force's findings and promoting responsible AI development within the state. The University of Mississippi has also been exploring AI applications, including research into using AI bots to provide healthcare advice in rural areas, with the Delta region as a starting point.

What Mississippi's Approach Means for Businesses

Mississippi's study-first strategy creates both opportunities and uncertainties for businesses operating in the state.

Current Obligations

Businesses in Mississippi must currently comply with:

• SB 2577: Do not create or disseminate political deepfakes within 90 days of elections without the depicted person's consent
• HB 1126: AI-generated child sexual abuse material is prosecuted under child exploitation laws
• Federal laws: Title VII, ADA, ADEA apply to AI-assisted hiring decisions; the TAKE IT DOWN Act prohibits nonconsensual intimate deepfakes nationwide
• Executive Order 1584: State agencies must inventory and develop policies for AI use (applies to government, not private sector directly)

Preparing for Future Regulation

With the AIR Task Force reporting through 2027 and the HB 1723 AI definition in effect since July 1, 2026, businesses should expect more specific AI regulations in coming years. Companies would be wise to establish internal AI governance policies, conduct bias audits of AI tools used in hiring or customer-facing decisions, and maintain records of AI use that could be subject to future disclosure requirements.

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