C.R.S. § 6-1-1701: Definitions. [Editor's note: This version of this section is effective until January 1, 2027.]

As used in this part 17, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) (a) "Algorithmic discrimination" means any condition in which the use of an artificial intelligence system results in an unlawful differential treatment or impact that disfavors an individual or group of individuals on the basis of their actual or perceived age, color, disability, ethnicity, genetic information, limited proficiency in the English language, national origin, race, religion, reproductive health, sex, veteran status, or other classification protected under the laws of this state or federal law.

(b) "Algorithmic discrimination" does not include:

(I) The offer, license, or use of a high-risk artificial intelligence system by a developer or deployer for the sole purpose of:

(A) The developer's or deployer's self-testing to identify, mitigate, or prevent discrimination or otherwise ensure compliance with state and federal law; or

(B) Expanding an applicant, customer, or participant pool to increase diversity or redress historical discrimination; or

(II) An act or omission by or on behalf of a private club or other establishment that is not in fact open to the public, as set forth in Title II of the federal "Civil Rights Act of 1964", 42 U.S.C. sec. 2000a (e), as amended.

(2) "Artificial intelligence system" means any machine-based system that, for any explicit or implicit objective, infers from the inputs the system receives how to generate outputs, including content, decisions, predictions, or recommendations, that can influence physical or virtual environments.

(3) "Consequential decision" means a decision that has a material legal or similarly significant effect on the provision or denial to any consumer of, or the cost or terms of:

(a) Education enrollment or an education opportunity;

(b) Employment or an employment opportunity;

(c) A financial or lending service;

(d) An essential government service;

(e) Health-care services;

(f) Housing;

(g) Insurance; or

(h) A legal service.

(4) "Consumer" means an individual who is a Colorado resident.

(4.5) (a) "Conversational artificial intelligence service" means an artificial intelligence system that is accessible to the general public and that primarily simulates human conversation and interaction through adaptive textual, visual, or aural communications.

(b) "Conversational artificial intelligence service" does not include a software application, web interface, or computer program that:

(I) Is primarily designed and marketed for use by a developer or researcher;

(II) Is primarily designed to provide commerce-related or transactional assistance, including product or service recommendations, shopping, ordering, payments, delivery, returns, customer support, or customer service;

(III) Is designed to provide outputs relating to a narrow and discrete topic and cannot generate outputs related to sexually explicit conduct or depictions, as described in section 6-1-1708 (2)(c) and (2)(d), or maintain dialogue related to suicidal ideation or self-harm;

(IV) Is primarily designed and marketed for commercial use by business entities for the purpose of business operations, productivity, information analysis, internal research, training, or technical assistance;

(V) Functions as a speaker and voice command interface or text interface and acts as a voice- or text-activated virtual assistant for a consumer electronic device and cannot generate outputs related to sexually explicit conduct or depictions, as described in section 6-1-1708 (2)(c) and (2)(d), or encourage dialogue related to suicidal ideation or self-harm;

(VI) Is used by a business solely for internal purposes;

(VII) Is a feature of a video game that is limited to dialogue focused on the video game and does not maintain dialogue on topics unrelated to the video game;

(VIII) Is a feature of a theme park or location-based entertainment and is limited in dialogue to topics solely related to the theme park or location-based entertainment and does not maintain a dialogue about topics unrelated to the theme park or location-based entertainment;

(IX) Is used by a covered entity or business associate of a covered entity, or is rendered to or provided on behalf of a covered entity or business associate of a covered entity, as those terms are defined in the federal "health insurance portability and accountability act of 1996", 42 U.S.C. secs. 1320d to 1320d-9.

(X) Is used by an entity subject to the "Health Care Availability Act", article 64 of title 13;

(XI) Is an educational tool designed primarily to support specific and limited instructional, administrative, accessibility, or student support purposes in a school setting and that is not designed to simulate emotional companionship or encourage emotionally dependent interaction; or

(XII) Is a feature within another software application, web interface, or computer program, where the software application, web interface, or computer program is not the conversational artificial intelligence service, that is not designed to simulate emotional companionship or encourage emotionally dependent interaction and that is not a conversational artificial intelligence service, including of a social media platform, as defined in section 6-1-1601 (4)(a).

(5) "Deploy" means to use a high-risk artificial intelligence system.

(6) "Deployer" means a person doing business in this state that deploys a high-risk artificial intelligence system.

(7) "Developer" means a person doing business in this state that develops or intentionally and substantially modifies an artificial intelligence system.

(7.5) (a) "Explicit sexual conduct" has the meaning set forth in section 13-21-1502 (7).

(b) "Explicit sexual conduct" does not include evidence-based medical information or factual descriptions of reproductive health care.

(8) "Health-care services" has the same meaning as provided in 42 U.S.C. sec. 234 (d)(2).

(9) (a) "High-risk artificial intelligence system" means any artificial intelligence system that, when deployed, makes, or is a substantial factor in making, a consequential decision.

(b) "High-risk artificial intelligence system" does not include:

(I) An artificial intelligence system if the artificial intelligence system is intended to:

(A) Perform a narrow procedural task; or

(B) Detect decision-making patterns or deviations from prior decision-making patterns and is not intended to replace or influence a previously completed human assessment without sufficient human review; or

(II) The following technologies, unless the technologies, when deployed, make, or are a substantial factor in making, a consequential decision:

(A) Anti-fraud technology that does not use facial recognition technology;

(B) Anti-malware;

(C) Anti-virus;

(D) Artificial intelligence-enabled video games;

(E) Calculators;

(F) Cybersecurity;

(G) Databases;

(H) Data storage;

(I) Firewall;

(J) Internet domain registration;

(K) Internet website loading;

(L) Networking;

(M) Spam- and robocall-filtering;

(N) Spell-checking;

(O) Spreadsheets;

(P) Web caching;

(Q) Web hosting or any similar technology; or

(R) Technology that communicates with consumers in natural language for the purpose of providing users with information, making referrals or recommendations, and answering questions and is subject to an accepted use policy that prohibits generating content that is discriminatory or harmful.

(10) (a) "Intentional and substantial modification" or "intentionally and substantially modifies" means a deliberate change made to an artificial intelligence system that results in any new reasonably foreseeable risk of algorithmic discrimination.

(b) "Intentional and substantial modification" or "intentionally and substantially modifies" does not include a change made to a high-risk artificial intelligence system, or the performance of a high-risk artificial intelligence system, if:

(I) The high-risk artificial intelligence system continues to learn after the high-risk artificial intelligence system is:

(A) Offered, sold, leased, licensed, given, or otherwise made available to a deployer; or

(B) Deployed;

(II) The change is made to the high-risk artificial intelligence system as a result of any learning described in subsection (10)(b)(I) of this section;

(III) The change was predetermined by the deployer, or a third party contracted by the deployer, when the deployer or third party completed an initial impact assessment of such high-risk artificial intelligence system pursuant to section 6-1-1703 (3); and

(IV) The change is included in technical documentation for the high-risk artificial intelligence system.

(10.1) "Intimate digital depiction" has the meaning set forth in section 13-21-1502 (10).

(10.3) "Minor" means a consumer under eighteen years old.

(10.5) (a) "Operator" means a person, partnership, corporation, or entity that:

(I) Develops and makes publicly available a conversational artificial intelligence service; or

(II) Offers a conversational artificial intelligence service to a consumer.

(b) "Operator" does not include a mobile application store or search engine solely because the store or search engine provides access to a conversational artificial intelligence service.

(10.7) "Self-harm" means intentional self-injury, with or without the intent to cause death.

(11) (a) "Substantial factor" means a factor that:

(I) Assists in making a consequential decision;

(II) Is capable of altering the outcome of a consequential decision; and

(III) Is generated by an artificial intelligence system.

(b) "Substantial factor" includes any use of an artificial intelligence system to generate any content, decision, prediction, or recommendation concerning a consumer that is used as a basis to make a consequential decision concerning the consumer.

(12) "Trade secret" has the meaning set forth in section 7-74-102 (4).

(13) "Visual depiction" has the meaning set forth in 18 U.S.C. sec. 2256 (5).