Status: Did Not Pass — CS/HB 491 (House) and the companion SB 562 advanced through committees during the 2025 Florida regular session, but both were withdrawn from consideration on May 3, 2025; HB 491 ultimately died in Rules on June 16, 2025. Tracked here because the bill clarified Florida’s school-and-secure-facility carve-out and is expected to be reintroduced in subsequent sessions.

Bill Number: Florida CS/HB 491 (2025); companion SB 562 (2025) — “Use of Artificial Intelligence by Governmental Agencies to Detect Concealed Firearms”

Jurisdiction: Florida

Category: AI Security Regulation (Restrictive, with School / Secure-Facility Carve-Outs)

Industries: Government, K-12, Higher Education, Critical Infrastructure

Enacted Date: Not enacted (2025 session)

Effective Date: Would have been October 1, 2025 had it passed

Summary: CS/HB 491 would have prohibited Florida state and local governmental agencies, and contractors acting on their behalf, from using artificial intelligence to detect concealed firearms in public places without a warrant. A first violation would have constituted a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The bill carved out specific exceptions: AI firearm detection would have remained permissible on K-12 and higher-education school grounds, in courthouses, in police stations, and at certain other secure or federally protected facilities listed in Florida’s firearms statutes.

The bill matters for the AI physical security legislative landscape for two reasons. First, it represents the first serious attempt by a state legislature to restrict AI firearm detection in public spaces, and the carve-out structure it adopted — affirmatively preserving AI detection on school grounds and in secure facilities — is the template that any restrictive bill in another state is most likely to follow. Second, the bill’s failure (combined with the parallel withdrawal of SB 562) signals that the political appetite to ban AI firearm detection outright is limited even where privacy-focused legislators have introduced the question. Florida security directors should treat this as a near-term reintroduction risk rather than a settled policy issue.

Key Provisions (As Filed / Substituted):

General Prohibition: Governmental agencies and their contractors would be prohibited from using AI to detect concealed firearms in public places without a warrant.
Penalty: First-degree misdemeanor (up to one year in jail and $1,000 fine) for non-compliant AI firearm-detection use.
School Carve-Out: AI firearm detection expressly permitted on K-12 and higher-education school grounds, including school-owned and -operated transportation.
Secure Facility Carve-Out: AI firearm detection expressly permitted in courthouses, police stations, detention facilities, and other secure or federally protected facilities enumerated in Florida’s firearms statutes.
Warrant Exception: Detection permissible where supported by a valid warrant.

Affected Entities (Had It Passed): Florida state agencies, county and municipal governments, and any private contractor acting on behalf of a Florida governmental agency, when deploying AI firearm detection in public spaces outside the carve-outs. Private-sector deployments (private K-12 schools, private hospitals, private retail, private stadiums) would not have been covered.

Penalties and Enforcement: Would have been enforced as a first-degree misdemeanor with up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine per violation, with state attorney prosecutorial authority.

IntelliSee Relevance: Moderate — the bill did not pass, and the carve-outs it contained would have explicitly preserved IntelliSee’s primary deployment patterns (schools, higher education, government secure facilities). The strategic significance is twofold: (1) the carve-out structure is now the template for any future restrictive bill in Florida or another state, which means deployments aligned with school-grounds and secure-facility use cases retain political durability even in restrictive environments; and (2) Florida security directors planning AI weapon detection deployments should monitor reintroduction and confirm that any future restrictive bill maintains the school and secure-facility carve-outs that CS/HB 491 contemplated. IntelliSee’s privacy-preserving architecture — weapon-and-event detection without facial recognition or persistent identity tracking — further reduces the regulatory exposure surface area in any future restrictive bill.

Florida Use of Artificial Intelligence to Detect Concealed Firearms (CS/HB 491, 2025)

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