AI Chatbots For Minors To Face New Restrictions in NY Bill (1)

Artificial intelligence chatbots that interact with minors would face sweeping new restrictions under a new bill approved by New York lawmakers Friday.

The bill (A10379) would impose some of the strictest restrictions in the country on chatbots that interact with children on mental health topics. It now goes to Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), who has made reining in Big Tech a key campaign platform in her November reelection bid. The measure passed unanimously in the state Assembly Friday after passing the state Senate earlier this week.

Sponsor Assemblymember Alex Bores (D), a congressional candidate in New York’s 12th district, has also made AI regulation a major political priority. He said while the new measure has faced significant opposition from tech and business groups, lawmakers must regulate chatbot developers to prevent deaths like Adam Raine, a teenager whose family alleges died by suicide because of interactions with ChatGPT.

“We cannot look New York parents in the eyes any longer and tell them we are not taking the safety of their children seriously,” Bores said Friday.

The bill prohibits AI chatbot operators from providing “unsafe features” to minors and allows the attorney general’s office the ability to enforce cases on behalf of harmed users. Covered platforms cannot provide simulated companionship, retain minor users’ data, or engage in unsupervised therapy and sexual content. They are also banned from promoting suicide or harmful activity.

Child safety advocates, including Common Sense Media, have backed the measure

“It’s time to stop tech companies from using our children as guinea pigs,” the organization said in a statement. “This is a huge victory for kids and families and a model for other states to follow.”

Business groups have pushed back on the bill’s scope. The Business Council of New York State called its definition of a chatbot overly broad.

“As drafted, this bill is not a workable regulatory framework and would effectively ban minors from accessing increasingly essential online and technological tools and innovations,” the business advocacy organization contended in a May 9 memo.

The measure still needs to be approved by Hochul before it becomes law. It gives ultimate enforcement authority to the state attorney general’s office, including a provision that the attorney general develop rules to determine how users’ ages are verified.

Hochul spokesperson Kristin Devoe said in a statement the governor would review the legislation and said Hochul first proposed “first in the nation guardrails” on chatbots in 2025.