What happened
On 22 September 2026, the Maryland Governor's Office published 'Protecting Marylanders in the Age of Artificial Intelligence', articulating three governance principles (protection from AI-driven threats; worker voice and training; child protection) and cataloguing Maryland's AI safeguards including its public AI use-case inventory, deepfake task force, election-deepfake statute, expanded deepfake-intimate-image and AI-impersonation crimes, and the binding fairness and bias-testing requirements for high-risk state AI systems under EO 01.01.2024.02 and SB 818.
Why it matters
It consolidates and publicly commits Maryland to an interventionist state-AI-governance posture — including prosecuting AI-impersonation and deepfake harms — useful signal for AI deployers on enforcement risk in the state and part of the broader state-AG/executive wave filling the federal vacuum.
Action needed
AI deployers operating in Maryland (especially in benefits, health, education, workforce or media) should align with state AI-transparency, bias-testing and synthetic-media obligations and follow the Governor's declared enforcement priorities.