HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — New York is adopting tougher restrictions on the behavior of companion chatbots, as states increasingly work to protect children who use artificial intelligence, regulate how employers deploy AI systems and incentivize developers to prevent any risks caused by AI. disaster.
Legislation signed Wednesday by Gov. Kathy Hochul lays out a dozen definitions of “unsafe AI companion features” that will be prohibited when a companion chatbot interacts with a child under 18.
A violation could expose a chatbot developer to legal action from the state attorney general’s office. Sanctions could include monetary damages, closure of the chatbot and destruction of data. The law comes into force on January 1.
Hochul, in the midst of a re-election campaign, signed the bill in the middle growing warnings about the existential risks posed by the rapid development of AI technology and calls for bold action from a reluctant Washington.
While Congress does little to regulate AI, state legislatures are packed with efforts to enforce national consumer protection laws to make the use of AI more transparent and rein in malicious chatbots and AI frontier models.
New York and California are at the forefront of these laws that also target social media platforms.
In September, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law requiring chatbot developers to assess a model’s risks to children, show how they have attempted to eliminate those risks, and submit to an independent audit to determine whether they are complying with the law.
He also signed a law banning social media platforms from deploying addictive features to users under 16.
Meanwhile, eight states continued AI giant OpenAI said earlier this month that the company’s popular chatbot model violated state consumer protection laws by harming children and deceiving adults in what one activist called “the largest coordinated action ever taken against an artificial intelligence company.”
However, governors acknowledge that Congress and the federal government have broader capabilities to quell the threats posed by AI, even as President Donald Trump has dismissed concerns and States warned not regulating AI.
Under New York law, prohibited behavior of chatbots with children under 18 suggests that the chatbot is a real person who has real emotions, opinions, or a relationship with the child. It also prohibits chatbot messages that use flattery, involve sexually explicit material, or encourage secrecy or unhealthy behavior.
Jim Steyer, founder and CEO of the watchdog group Common Sense Media, called New York’s law “the strongest child AI safety bill in the country.”
Justine Gluck, a policy analyst at the Future of Privacy Forum, a nonprofit focused on data protection and AI governance, said California and New York’s different regulatory approaches could be models that other states adopt after legislatures resume next year.
New York’s law, she said, highlights how quickly chatbot regulation is evolving, as states move beyond basic disclosures and crisis response protocols to regulate the underlying design and operation of chatbots.
Yet several categories in New York law are broadly worded or undefined, Gluck said.
That raises questions, she said, about “where ordinary conversational responsiveness ends and forbidden behavior begins,” and could complicate how it is enforced.
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Follow Marc Lévy on http://twitter.com/timelywriter
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