On June 22, 2025, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the Texas Responsible AI Governance Act (TRAIGA) into law. While earlier versions of the bill mirrored broader frameworks like the EU AI Act, the final version scales back many requirements and focuses primarily on prohibiting specific uses of AI. With the federal AI regulatory moratorium looking less likely to advance, monitoring changes at the state level should take center stage.
The bottom line:
Starting January 1, 2026, companies operating in Texas may not develop or deploy AI systems for certain high-risk purposes including behavioral manipulation and social scoring. TRAIGA also creates a regulatory sandbox, and an advisory council focused on AI governance.
What you need to do:
- Businesses that develop or deploy AI systems in Texas should review existing products to ensure they are not used for prohibited purposes and implement or update internal processes including those based on NIST’s AI Risk Management Framework. Legal counsel should be consulted to evaluate whether available affirmative defenses under TRAIGA may apply as necessary.
