An act relating to defenses in civil actions based on harm caused by artificial intelligence
Vermont's H 855 prohibits defendants in civil lawsuits from claiming that autonomous artificial intelligence (AI) independently caused harm to a plaintiff. It directly affects companies or individuals who develop, modify, or use AI systems that result in injury. The bill bans this specific defense while allowing other legal arguments, such as negligence or foreseeability. It defines AI broadly as systems that generate outputs to influence environments based on input, without altering other defenses under the law.
Bill status
introduced
1 of 4 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2026
Committee Review
Floor Vote
Governor
Introduced Feb 3, 2026
Last action Feb 3, 2026
Floor votes
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No floor votes recorded yet.
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
1
Key actions
0
Committee
0
Feb 3, 2026
Introduced
Read first time and referred to the Committee on Judiciary
lower
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors
Sponsors
Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Zak Harvey
RRepublican
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