New York enacts ban on 'unsafe' chatbot behavior with kids - ABC News

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation on Wednesday that outlines a dozen definitions of “unsafe AI companion features” to be prohibited when a companion chatbot interacts with a child under 18, ABC News reports. The measure applies to companion chatbots and to users under the age of 18. The article presents the signing as part of a wider wave of state-level activity rather than as an isolated bill.

According to ABC News, the legislation sets out twelve separate definitions of prohibited features; the excerpt does not list them. The report places the law against federal inaction, stating: “With Congress doing little to regulate AI, state legislatures are packed with efforts to wield state consumer protection laws to make AI use more transparent and rein in chatbots and rogue AI frontier models.” The phrase references both chatbots and “rogue AI frontier models,” a category the excerpt does not define. The excerpt does not specify penalties, an enforcement agency, an effective date, or vote margins.

It states that those efforts extend beyond companion chatbots to frontier models. ABC News does not, in the excerpt, identify the bill's sponsors, name the companies whose products would be covered, or include reaction from industry or from the governor's office beyond the signing itself. The excerpt does not state how the twelve definitions will be applied in practice.