Gov. Polis Reassesses AI Regulations After Business Backlash

By: Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics

For the second time in as many years, Gov. Jared Polis has appointed a working group to address the issues around the state’s 2024 law on artificial intelligence.

The law, which Polis signed despite major misgivings last year, is still not ready for prime time.

The implementation date for the new law, as set by lawmakers in the August special session, was moved from Feb. 1, 2026, to June 30, 2026, providing a little more time for the tech industry and consumer groups that have been at odds over the law to come to a consensus.

Whether that’s doable is another question, given that the first working group spent the last half of 2024 trying to work out differences. The working group’s final report indicated more areas of disagreement than agreement.

The 2024 artificial intelligence law was likely the most contentious issue in the six-day August special session.

The topic was added to the governor’s call after the General Assembly failed to fix some issues in the 2024 law. Senate Majority Leader Robert Rodriguez, D-Denver, offered a bill on April 28, about 10 days before the 2025 session’s end. 

While Rodriguez asserted SB 25-318 was far from a finished product, the measure drew immediate criticism from the tech industry and venture capitalists. The bill died on the last day of the session.

The next effort – the August special session – did not result in any changes to the law, except for pushing back the implementation date by five months.

In a June 2024 letter convening the first working group, Polis, Rodriguez, and Attorney General Phil Weiser outlined several areas for consideration:

• Refining the definition of AI to align with a federal definition, as well as definitions from other states with substantial technology sectors

• Focus regulation on the developers of “high-risk” AI, rather than “deployers” — meaning smaller businesses that may use AI through third-party software

• Shift to a more traditional enforcement model under the Attorney General rather than the law’s proactive disclosure requirement

• Making clear that the consumer’s right of appeal is tied to the Attorney General’s ability to investigate discrimination, or through the Consumer Rights Commission

• Address other measures the state could take to be more welcoming for technological innovation, while preventing discrimination

Polis convened the 2025 working group through an Oct. 13 letter. He wrote that the group “should prioritize evidence-based policy solutions that mitigate bias, avoid ambiguity, facilitate innovation and economic growth, and are in alignment with national standards and best practices.”

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