NY governor signs major chatbot safety bill into law
The NY chatbot safety bill is supposed to protect kids from harm.
Governor Kathy Hochul of New York signed a major safety bill into law on Wednesday, prohibiting artificial intelligence chatbots from offering standard features to users under the age of 18. The bill prevents chatbots from pretending to be real people or expressing human emotions, providing people-pleasing or flattering responses, and asking unprompted emotional questions that delve into a child's private health information from prior conversations.
Additionally, minors will be barred from conversing with chatbots that promote drug or alcohol use, eating disorders, self-harm, suicide, or sexually explicit content. Companies must verify user age through multiple methods, including those not solely reliant on government identification. Only Anthropic, a leading chatbot provider, currently restricts minors from creating accounts.
Google and OpenAI, which operate Gemini and ChatGPT, respectively, allow users aged 13 and older to interact with their chatbots. Inappropriate chatbot usage could lead to civil penalties of up to $25,000 per instance. The law also mandates the creation of a public website for New Yorkers to file complaints against chatbot companies for potential violations.
Hochul has championed several other bills focused on digital and AI safety, including legislation on AI transparency, AI companions, and restrictions on addictive social media features. Several states, including California, have enacted their own AI regulations in response to the lack of federal guidelines.
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