South Carolina H 4657: Right to Compute Act

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 4657 Text of Previous Version (Dec. 17, 2025) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 4657

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ENACTING THE 
"RIGHT TO COMPUTE ACT" BY ADDING CHAPTER 35 TO TITLE 1 SO AS TO REQUIRE RISK 
MANAGEMENT POLICIES FOR CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE CONTROLLED BY ARTIFICIAL 
INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS AND TO ESTABLISH WHEN PRIVATE COMPUTATIONAL RESOURCES MAY 
BE RESTRICTED.

Whereas, innovations in 
computational technology, such as machine learning, enable technological 
breakthroughs in nearly every sector, leading to increased economic growth and 
greater prosperity; and

Whereas, ensuring the 
United States remains at the forefront of computational technology is critical 
for driving economic growth, safeguarding national security, and retaining a 
competitive edge over adversarial nations; and

Whereas, while 
recognizing the benefits of recent innovations in computational technologies, 
technology industry leaders have also expressed concern that some applications 
of powerful computational resources may pose a high risk to public health and 
safety; and

Whereas, federal and 
state governments increasingly propose far-reaching restrictions on the ability 
to privately own or make use of computational resources for lawful purposes, 
some of which may infringe on fundamental constitutional rights to property and 
free expression; and

Whereas, the South 
Carolina General Assembly is the proper branch of government to establish 
policies and principles relating to the ability to own and make use of 
computational resources within the context of state constitutional provisions. 
Now therefore,

Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the "Right to Compute Act."

SECTION 2. The 
General Assembly finds that the right to acquire, possess, and protect property 
and freedom of expression, as protected by the South Carolina Constitution, 
also embodies the notion of a fundamental right to own and make use of 
technological tools, including computational resources. Any governmental 
restriction placed on the ability to privately own or make use of computational 
resources for lawful purposes must be limited to those demonstrably necessary 
and narrowly tailored to fulfill a compelling governmental interest.

SECTION 3. Title 1 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

CHAPTER 35

Right to Compute

 Section 
1-35-10. For purposes of this chapter, the following 
definitions apply:

 (1) 
"Artificial intelligence system" means any machine learning-based system that, 
for any explicit or implicit objective, infers from the inputs the system 
receives how to generate outputs including, but not limited to, content, 
decisions, predictions, and recommendations that can influence physical or 
virtual environments.

 (2) 
"Compelling governmental interest" means a governmental interest of the highest 
order in protecting the public that cannot be achieved through less restrictive 
means. This includes, but is not limited to:

 (a) 
ensuring that a critical infrastructure facility controlled by an artificial 
intelligence system develops a risk management policy;

 (b) 
addressing conduct that deceives or defrauds the public;

 (c) 
protecting individuals, especially minors, from harm by a person who 
distributes deepfakes and other harmful synthetic content with actual knowledge 
of the nature of that material;

 (d) 
taking actions that prevent or abate common law nuisances created by physical 
datacenter infrastructure.

 (3) 
"Computational resources" means any tools, technologies, systems, or 
infrastructure, whether digital, analog, existing, or some other form, that 
facilitate any form of computation, data processing, storage, transmission, 
manipulation, control, creation, dissemination, or use of information and data. 
This includes, but is not limited to, hardware, software, algorithms, sensors, 
networks, protocols, platforms, services, systems, cryptography, machine 
learning, or quantum applications.

 (4)(a) "Critical artificial intelligence" 
means an artificial intelligence system that is designed and deployed to make, 
or is a substantial factor in making, a consequential decision.

 (b) 
"Critical artificial intelligence" does not include:

 (i) 
an artificial intelligence system that is intended to:

 (A) 
perform a narrow procedural task;

 (B) 
improve the result of a previously completed human activity;

 (C) 
perform a preparatory task to an assessment relevant to a consequential 
decision; or

 (D) 
detect a decision-making pattern or a deviation from a preexisting 
decision-making pattern;

 (ii) 
antifraud, antimalware, antivirus, calculator, cybersecurity, database, data 
storage,