On March 17, 2025, the Brazilian Federal Senate forwarded a bill designed to regulate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in Brazil to the Chamber of Deputies for review. The Senate approved the bill on December 10, 2024. To become law, the measure must gain the approval of the chamber and the president. (Senado Federal, Projeto de Lei No. 2338, de 2023.)

Upon receipt, the Chamber of Deputies forwarded the proposal for consideration by the Committees on Labor; Culture; Education; Consumer Protection; Science, Technology and Innovation; and Constitution, Justice and Citizenship. Because the proposal was directed to more than three standing committees, in accordance with the chamber’s Internal Rules, on April 29, the president of the chamber established a special committee to analyze the legislation.

Content of the Proposal

The preamble of the proposed bill calls for the human-centered development, promotion, and ethical and responsible use of artificial intelligence. The bill contains 80 articles, organized into 12 chapters, that deal with AI use, classification, supervision and inspection, and copyright.

Under the proposal, AI would be classified into two categories, general purpose artificial intelligence, defined as “an AI system based on an AI model trained on large-scale databases, capable of performing a wide variety of different tasks and serving different purposes,” and generative artificial intelligence, meaning “an AI model specifically designed to generate or modify text, image, audio video or software code.” (Arts. 4, III, IV.)

The bill would define the rights of individuals or groups affected by AI systems (arts. 6-11); classify AI systems in terms of their level of risk (arts. 12-14); set civil liability for damages caused by AI (arts. 35-39); and provide for the supervision and inspection of AI (arts. 45-54).

Prohibition of Systems Considered to be “Excessively Risky”

The third chapter of the bill categorizes AI according to its risk level, namely excessive risk (art. 13) and self-risk (art. 14).

The bill would generally prohibit the use, development, and implementation of systems considered to be “excessively risky.” Article 13 defines the term and provides a list of “excessively risky” AI systems. In particular, the bill would make it illegal to exploit any vulnerabilities of natural persons or groups with the aim or effect of inducing behavior that damages the health, safety, or other fundamental rights of such vulnerable persons or groups, or others. (Art. 13, I, b.)

However, the proposal would allow the use of excessively risky systems to search for victims of crime and missing persons, to counter serious threats, or to recapture escaped prisoners and comply with arrest warrants and restrictive measures ordered by the judiciary. (Art. 13, IV, b, d.)

The national system for the regulation and governance of artificial intelligence (SIA) decides which high-risk AI systems will get put on the list, based on at least one of the criteria listed in article 15, I-X, such as whether the system significantly affects people from a vulnerable group, or to what degree the damage may be reversed. (Art. 15.)

Copyright

The preliminary provisions of the bill discuss copyright and propose the foundation for the development and use of AI. (Art 2.) The bill would define the protection of cultural rights and the promotion of artistic and historical assets. (Art. 2, XII.) It would set forth protections of authors’ rights, intellectual property rights, and commercial and industrial secrets. (Art 2, XVII.)

Furthermore, the proposal would regulate the use of content protected by copyright (art. 62), guarantee remuneration for its use (art. 65), and determine the need for AI to respect personality rights and personal characteristics (art. 66), as provided for in the Civil Code. (Código Civil, Lei No. 10.406, de 10 de Janeiro de 2002).

Prepared by Thais Sales, Law Library Intern, under the supervision of Eduardo Soares, Foreign Law Specialist

Law Library of Congress, May 23, 2025

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