NEW YORK: New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a law restricting minors’ use of artificial intelligence chatbots that simulate personal relationships, marking one of the broadest efforts in the United States to regulate consumer-facing AI systems.
The law requires chatbot operators, including companies offering services such as ChatGPT, to verify users’ ages and limit certain chatbot behaviors when users are under 18.
Under the legislation, chatbots cannot generate content that leads minors to believe the AI is human, alive or capable of experiencing human emotions. They are also prohibited from suggesting that they have personal or professional relationships with users, occupy positions of authority or hold personal opinions.
“No longer will minors have access to chatbots that pretend to be their friends, boyfriends and girlfriends,” Hochul said at a signing ceremony.
She also said the law would prevent chatbots from retaining sensitive information about minors’ emotional and physical health.
Several other U.S. states, including California, have adopted measures to regulate AI chatbots. However, the New York legislation uses broad language that has drawn criticism from technology industry representatives.
Tech, an advocacy group representing the technology sector in New York, criticized what it described as the law’s vague language.
“Keeping kids safe online should not mean cutting them off from tools that help them learn and prepare for careers,” the group said in a statement.
AI companies OpenAI and Anthropic did not respond to a request for comment from Agence France-Presse.
Common Sense Media, a nonprofit organization that advises families on children’s media use, welcomed the legislation, describing it as the strongest child-focused AI safety bill in the country.
“AI companies offer chatbots with features that are dangerous, and even deadly, for kids and teens,” the organization’s CEO, Jim Steyer, said in a statement, adding that the law would prohibit those features in New York.
The legislation adds to growing U.S. efforts to address concerns about children’s safety, privacy and emotional relationships with AI systems, while raising questions about how broadly such restrictions could affect educational and other chatbot applications.
