Since the rise of artificial intelligence (“AI”), legislatures have grappled with its rapid advancement and potential risks it poses to consumers. In May 2024, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 24-205, the Colorado Artificial Intelligence Act (“CAIA”), making it “the first United States law to comprehensively regulate the development and use of high-risk AI systems.” (Tatiana Rice, Keir Lamont & Jordan Francis, FPF Legislation Policy Brief - The Colorado AI Act). CAIA is set to go into effect on June 30, 2026. (Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP). This post examines the impetus driving CAIA, the rebuttable presumption of reasonable care for developers and deployers adhering to recognized AI risk-management frameworks like NIST or ISO/IEC 42001, available exemptions, and the act’s broader implications on the tech industry and state-level legislation.

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Corporate law firms nationwide were relieved as attorney-client privilege and the work-product doctrine remained safeguarded. In a recent decision, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals had temporarily stayed a district court’s decision requiring the disclosure of investigative materials related to the FirstEnergy Corporation (“FirstEnergy”) bribery scandal (“Scandal”). (Debra Weiss, ABA Journal). After the Scandal implicated FirstEnergy in funneling money to politicians to secure the passage of Ohio House Bill 6, the company’s board of directors hired the law firms of Jones Day and Squire Patton Boggs to internally investigate the allegations. (Alison Frankel, Reuters). The district court reasoned that because FirstEnergy sought counsel’s advice for both business and legal purposes, the communication did not fall under attorney-client privilege or the attorney-work-product doctrine. In re FirstEnergy Corp., No. 24-3654, 2025 WL 2335978, at 2* (6th Cir. Aug. 7, 2025). The Sixth Circuit disagreed, stating "Th[is] approach gets it backwards” and found that communications produced by law firms hired for the purpose of conducting internal investigations are protected by attorney-client privilege and attorney-work-product doctrine. Id. This post examines how the Sixth Circuit addressed the privacy issue raised by the district court’s decision and analyzes the ruling’s ramifications for corporate internal investigations, as well as its broader effects on large corporate firms and law firm business practices.

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