Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Artificial Intelligence topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Subcommittee approves amendment clarifying Tennessee law excludes AI from 'person'
Summary
The Civil Justice Subcommittee forwarded House Bill 849 — with amendment draft 15,676 — to the full judiciary committee. Sponsor Representative Renaud said the change preserves existing legal definitions while explicitly excluding artificial intelligence and machines from 'person' under Tennessee law.
Representative Renaud presented House Bill 849 and an amendment (draft 15,676) that, he said, ‘‘ensures that in the volunteer state, when we say person in the law, it is always a human being or a human led entity, not a machine.’’ He cited recent examples — an AI that appeared on a municipal ballot and an AI appointed as a corporate CEO — to argue the law should be explicit about personhood.
Members asked for procedural assurances about future changes in the other chamber. Representative Garrett asked whether the sponsor would return the bill to committee if the Senate or another chamber changed definitions; Representative Renaud agreed to bring such changes back to the subcommittee for consideration. Representative Johnson asked for technical clarification about amendment content; the sponsor said the amendment preserves the existing legal list (corporation, firm, company, association) but adds an explicit exclusion for AI, computer algorithms, software, hardware and other machines.
The committee voted to add amendment 15,676 and to forward House Bill 849 to the full judiciary committee. The Clerk recorded 6 ayes, 0 nos and 1 present not voting. No formal mover/second names were recorded in the transcript for the roll call motion.
