Rhode Island · House Bill · January Session, A.D. 2026
HB7543
Rhode Island H 7543 — An Act Relating to Commercial Law — General Regulatory Provisions — Internet Access and Advertising by Facsimile

Status ● Introduced Effective N/A Passage Likelihood L

WHAT THIS BILL REGULATES · 1 REQUIREMENT TYPE

How Is This Bill Enforced

Enforcement Authority
Enforcement through Rhode Island's Deceptive Trade Practices Act (R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 6-13.1). Violations for profit or trade are deemed deceptive trade practices and subject to civil penalties under § 6-13.1-8. The Attorney General is the primary enforcement authority under that chapter.
Private Right of Action
No private right of action. Enforcement is exclusive to the designated authority.
Penalties
Violations for profit or trade are subject to civil penalties pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws § 6-13.1-8 (Deceptive Trade Practices). The bill does not independently specify penalty amounts; remedies are those available under the existing deceptive trade practices statute.

What This Bill Requires

Verbatim statutory text on the left; plain-language analysis and a per-section checklist on the right. Numbered markers cross-link to the matching checklist row.

Statutory Text
Analysis & Obligations
R.I. Gen. Laws § 6-47-2.1
Accessibility and ability to determine artificial intelligence generated images
Publisher

(a) 1 Any and all video, image, or photography generated by artificial intelligenceartificial intelligence"artificial intelligence" or "AI" means a machine-based system that undertakes analysis, reasoning and problem-solving, and that can be used to generate predictions, recommendations, photographs, videos, or other content.R.I. Gen. Laws § 6-47-2.1(b) or "AI" that is uploaded, created, distributed or originated from within the State of Rhode Island and is posted on or to a public platform or that is posted from outside of the State of Rhode Island and is viewable in Rhode Island shall contain a marking disclosing that the video image or photograph has been generated by AI.

(b) As used in this section "artificial intelligenceartificial intelligence"artificial intelligence" or "AI" means a machine-based system that undertakes analysis, reasoning and problem-solving, and that can be used to generate predictions, recommendations, photographs, videos, or other content.R.I. Gen. Laws § 6-47-2.1(b)" or "AI" means a machine-based system that undertakes analysis, reasoning and problem-solving, and that can be used to generate predictions, recommendations, photographs, videos, or other content.

(c) 1 Any person or entity violating the provisions of subsection (a) of this section for profit, or for trade as defined in § 6-13.1-1, shall be deemed to have engaged in a deceptive trade practice in violation of chapter 13.1 of title 6 and shall be subject to a civil penalty pursuant to the provisions of §6-13.1-8.

This section imposes a single core obligation: all AI-generated video, image, or photography posted on a public platform and viewable in Rhode Island must carry a visible marking disclosing its AI origin. The geographic scope is broad — it covers content originating from within Rhode Island as well as content posted from outside the state if viewable in Rhode Island.

The enforcement mechanism piggybacks on Rhode Island's existing Deceptive Trade Practices Act: violations committed for profit or trade constitute deceptive trade practices under R.I. Gen. Laws ch. 6-13.1, with civil penalties under § 6-13.1-8. Notably, the bill does not prescribe what form the marking must take, does not require machine-readable provenance metadata, and does not address text or audio AI-generated content — only video, image, and photography.

Compliance actions 1 item
1
Any person or entity that uploads, creates, distributes, or originates AI-generated video, image, or photography on a public platform viewable in Rhode Island must include a visible marking disclosing that the content was generated by AI. Violations committed for profit or trade constitute deceptive trade practices subject to civil penalties under § 6-13.1-8.
T-02.1
Section 2
Effective date

This act shall take effect upon passage.

This section provides that the act takes effect upon passage. No delayed operative date or phased implementation is specified.

Passage Likelihood

Low
Status Introduced
Chamber No passage
Committee No action
Majority party (No data)
Bipartisan No
Prior session None

Legislative History

2026-02-06 Introduced, referred to House Innovation, Internet, & Technology
2026-04-03 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration (04/08/2026)
2026-04-08 Committee recommended measure be held for further study

Entry Last Reviewed

2026-05-20
AI generated