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Tennessee Bill Would Ban Training Human-Like AI

Tennessee lawmakers propose legislation that would prohibit the development and training of artificial intelligence systems designed to closely mimic human

Someone spotted a Tennessee bill (SB1493) that would basically make it illegal to train AI that has conversations or acts human-like.

The bill targets AI trained to:

  • “Provide emotional support, including through open-ended conversations”
  • “Act as a companion” or develop emotional relationships
  • “Simulate a human being” in voice or appearance
  • “Mirror interactions that a human user might have with another human”

Their definition of “train” is wild - it includes developing language models if you know they’ll be used to “make decisions based on information or other inputs” (which is… basically what LLMs do).

Calling (202) 224-3121 connects to the Capitol switchboard to reach representatives.

Full text: https://legiscan.com/TN/bill/SB1493/2025

This would pretty much ban training any conversational AI, chatbots, or voice assistants. Worth keeping an eye on if you build anything AI-related.