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Enacted Law Child Protection High Relevance

AR HB 1958

Public Entity AI Policy Requirements

Requires all Arkansas public entities to create AI policies with mandatory human-in-the-loop for final decisions. Covers state departments, schools, and political subdivisions.

Jurisdiction

Arkansas

US-AR

Enacted

Apr 17, 2025

Effective

Aug 3, 2025

Enforcement

Internal to each public entity

Signed April 17, 2025; effective August 3, 2025

Who Must Comply

This law applies to:

  • • Arkansas state departments
  • • Political subdivisions
  • • School districts
  • • Higher education institutions
  • • All public entities

Who bears obligations:

Deployer

This regulation places direct obligations on deployers (organizations using AI systems).

Safety Provisions

  • • Mandatory AI use policy defining authorized use
  • • REQUIRED: human employee must make any final decision regardless of AI recommendations
  • • Employee training on cybersecurity, AI policy, and AI in employment decisions
  • • Policies must be publicly available upon request
  • • Disciplinary procedures for policy violations

Compliance Timeline

Aug 3, 2025

Public entities must have AI policies in place

Enforcement

Enforced by

Internal to each public entity

Penalties

Internal disciplinary procedures

Quick Facts

Binding
Yes
Mental Health Focus
Yes
Child Safety Focus
Yes
Algorithmic Scope
Yes

Why It Matters

Covers schools and health/human services - affects AI used in child welfare, education decisions, mental health services. Mandatory human oversight for all consequential decisions.

Recent Developments

Part of 2025 Arkansas AI legislative package. Strong human-in-the-loop requirement.

What You Need to Comply

Public entities must: create AI use policy; require human final decision on all AI-assisted decisions; train employees; make policies public; have disciplinary procedures.

NOPE can help

Cite This

APA

Arkansas. (2025). Public Entity AI Policy Requirements. Retrieved from https://nope.net/regs/us-ar-hb1958

BibTeX

@misc{us_ar_hb1958,
  title = {Public Entity AI Policy Requirements},
  author = {Arkansas},
  year = {2025},
  url = {https://nope.net/regs/us-ar-hb1958}
}

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