This week, Washington and Virginia both passed significant AI legislation. If you saw the headlines and felt a familiar knot in your stomach - "great, more regulations I don't understand" - take a breath.
Let's cut through the noise.
What Actually Passed
Washington passed three AI-related bills:
- AI Public Safety and Child Protection Transparency Act
- Companion AI Protection Act
- AI Provenance Data Act
Virginia passed laws addressing:
- AI fraud and abuse
- Independent verification of AI systems
- Protections for minors on platforms using AI
What This Means for Most Small Businesses: Not Much (Yet)
Here's the honest take: these laws are primarily targeting large tech companies and AI developers, not the bakery using ChatGPT to write Instagram captions.
If you're a small business that uses AI tools (as opposed to building them), here's what you need to know:
You're Probably Fine If You:
- Use ChatGPT, Canva, or similar tools for your own business tasks
- Have an AI chatbot on your website that answers customer questions
- Use AI for scheduling, social media, or email
- Let your accounting software use AI for categorization
You Should Pay Attention If You:
- Collect data from minors (kids' programs, youth sports, schools)
- Use AI to make hiring or lending decisions
- Sell products or services specifically using AI as the product
- Operate in Washington or Virginia (obviously)
The One Thing Every Small Business Should Do
Regardless of what state you're in, the regulatory trend is clear: transparency about AI use is becoming mandatory.
Do this now:
- Know which of your tools use AI. Just make a list.
- Read their privacy policies. Specifically, look for what they do with your data (and your customers' data).
- Be transparent with customers. If a chatbot is answering their questions, say so. If AI wrote your product descriptions, that's fine - but consider a small footer note.
Transparency builds trust. And trust is what keeps customers coming back.
The Bigger Picture
We're in the early stages of AI regulation. It's going to keep evolving. The good news for small businesses: regulators are mostly going after the big fish right now.
But the smartest move is to get ahead of it. Start being transparent about your AI use now - voluntarily - so you're not scrambling when regulations eventually do reach your level.
We'll keep tracking this and translating it into language that actually makes sense. That's what we're here for.
Sam Torres covers AI news for The Useful Daily. She spent 12 years covering small business before anyone cared about AI, and she plans to keep covering small business long after the hype dies down.
Sources
- AI Legislative Update - March 13, 2026 - Transparency Coalition