How Is This Bill Enforced
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.
(a) 1 In an action against a defendant who developed, modified, or used artificial intelligenceartificial intelligence"artificial intelligence" means an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments.12 V.S.A. § 1036a(c) that is alleged to have caused harm to the plaintiff, it shall not be a defense, and the defendant shall not assert, that the artificial intelligenceartificial intelligence"artificial intelligence" means an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments.12 V.S.A. § 1036a(c) autonomously caused the harm to the plaintiff.
(b)(1)–(2) This section shall not limit or preclude a defendant from presenting: (1) any other affirmative defenses allowed by law; or (2) any other relevant evidence, including evidence relevant to causation, foreseeability, or contributory or comparative negligence.
(c) As used in this section, "artificial intelligenceartificial intelligence"artificial intelligence" means an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments.12 V.S.A. § 1036a(c)" means an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence physical or virtual environments.
This section creates a single rule of civil procedure specific to AI-related tort and other civil actions: a defendant who developed, modified, or used artificial intelligence may not defend on the ground that the AI autonomously caused the plaintiff's harm. The provision targets the emerging liability gap in which defendants argue that because an AI system acted autonomously, neither the developer nor the user bears responsibility for the resulting harm.
The prohibition is narrowly drawn. It does not strip defendants of other affirmative defenses, nor does it prevent them from introducing evidence on causation, foreseeability, or contributory or comparative negligence. It therefore preserves the plaintiff's burden to prove that the defendant's conduct was a proximate cause of harm — it simply forecloses the specific argument that AI autonomy breaks the causal chain. The definition of artificial intelligence tracks the NIST AI Risk Management Framework language and is broadly inclusive of any engineered or machine-based inferential system.
This act shall take effect on passage.
The act takes effect upon passage, meaning it applies immediately to pending and future civil actions once signed into law. There is no delayed operative date or phase-in period.