South Carolina currently has no law on the books requiring companies to disclose when they’re using artificial intelligence, and a newly formed legislative committee is now taking a long, deliberate run at changing that.
The Senate’s special committee on artificial intelligence met for the first time this week, kicking off a process lawmakers say will stretch across two years before it produces a final report, targeted for summer 2028. The committee’s work will include studying how other states have approached AI oversight as members try to figure out what guardrails, if any, make sense for South Carolina without stifling a technology already reshaping industries from health care to education.
The slow timeline stands in contrast to the pace of AI adoption itself, and reflects a broader hesitation among state governments nationally to legislate a fast-moving technology before its risks and uses are fully understood. Counties across the state, including Charleston, Richland and Oconee, are named among the areas where officials and residents are watching the committee’s work, alongside cities such as Columbia, Rock Hill, Greenville, Aiken and Hilton Head.
Until state law catches up, South Carolina residents and businesses are largely operating under a patchwork of federal guidance and company-specific policies, with the committee’s work representing the first organized state-level attempt to change that.
