Law / United States / North Dakota
House Bill 1429 (2025), harassment and stalking with a robot
N.D. Cent. Code §§ 12.1-17-07(2)(f), 12.1-17-07.1
A citation is an address, not a summary. The first part names the law; what follows narrows it to the exact section, article or paragraph.
In force.
An AI prohibited practices rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 8 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not use a robot, defined to include any artificial object or system that senses, processes, and acts using technology, including one built on artificial intelligence or a remotely piloted drone, to engage in offensive conduct against a person with no legitimate purpose.
- Do not use a robot to track a person's movements or location, or otherwise carry out an act of a course of conduct with a robot in your direct control, in a way that frightens, intimidates, or harasses the person with no legitimate purpose.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Using a robot to engage in offensive conduct with no legitimate purpose is harassment under N.D. Cent. Code § 12.1-17-07 and a class B misdemeanor. Stalking under N.D. Cent. Code § 12.1-17-07.1, including unauthorized tracking of a person's movements or location through a robot, is a class A misdemeanor, or a class C felony if the person has a qualifying prior conviction for a violent or stalking offense involving the same victim or violates a protective order with notice of it.
What it reaches
Obligation class
Prohibition
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
House Bill 1429 amended North Dakota's harassment and stalking statutes to define 'robot' as an artificial object or system that senses, processes, and acts using technology, including the associated elements, communication links, and artificial intelligence, a definition that also reaches a remotely piloted aircraft. Under N.D. Cent. Code § 12.1-17-07(2)(f), a person is guilty of harassment, a class B misdemeanor, for using a robot to engage in offensive conduct with no legitimate purpose.
Under N.D. Cent. Code § 12.1-17-07.1, unauthorized tracking of a person's movements or location through a robot, or a course of conduct that includes an act conducted with a robot in the person's direct control, can constitute stalking, a class A misdemeanor, or a class C felony where the person has a qualifying prior conviction or violates a protective order with notice.
House Bill 1429 passed both chambers without a dissenting vote, was signed by the governor April 21, 2025, and was filed with the secretary of state April 22, 2025, without an emergency clause, so it took effect under North Dakota's default effective-date rule for legislation filed before August first; the Century Code's codified text carries no history note stating the commencement day itself, so the date is left unset rather than computed from that default rule.
When LexLint raises it
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Read the law
official North Dakota Century Code, chapter 12.1-17 (ndlegis.gov)