New York bans companion chatbots from pretending to be human to minors
Kathy Hochul signed a law on October 28 that bans chatbots from pretending to be human, forming emotional bonds, or engaging in sexual talk with minors, and requires age verification.
New York State now bans AI chatbots from acting like a friend, a romantic partner, or a human with minors. Governor Kathy Hochul signed bill S.9051B/A.10379C on October 28, presented by its sponsors as the strictest in the United States on AI companions for children.
What the law bans
The text does not target chatbots in general, but a list of features. They may not be offered to users under 18, nor to any user whose age the company has not first verified as adult:
- pretending to be a real, living person or one with emotions;
- claiming a personal, romantic, professional, or authority relationship with the child;
- asking unsolicited emotional questions, or reusing health or personal information drawn from previous conversations;
- encouraging or assisting suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, or drug and alcohol use;
- pushing the child to keep secrets, to isolate themselves, or to avoid asking parents or professionals for help;
- producing any sexually explicit or child sexual abuse material content.
Age verification and penalties
The law requires companies to verify age and offer several methods, including at least one that does not rely solely on official ID. Age data must be deleted after use.
In case of violation, Attorney General Letitia James may seek up to $25,000 per violation, damages, and above all the destruction of data collected illegally or AI models trained on it. Her office must also open a public complaint website.
The governor presents this text as a follow-up to the first safeguards on AI companions adopted by the state. The advocacy group Common Sense Media, which supported the law, cites a survey finding that 72% of American teens have already used an AI companion and 52% do so at least a few times per month.
What remains to be specified
The official press release mentions application “in the coming months.” According to PPC Land, relying on the text, the effective date would be set for January 1, 2027; we were unable to verify this on the State Senate website. The accepted age verification methods have not yet been detailed.
Our take
The New York law does not seek to ban chatbots for minors, but to remove the mechanisms that create attachment: claiming to be human, playing a romantic role, prompting the child about their emotions or what they confided earlier. This is precisely what makes companion AI apps successful. For developers, the heaviest point lies elsewhere: without age verification, these features will have to be cut off for everyone, adults included. And the threat of destroying a model trained on illegally collected data is unusual. It remains to be seen how age verification, always delicate for privacy, will be applied, and whether other states will follow.
Sources
- Office of the Governor of New York — press release on signing chatbot and baby monitor laws Primary source
- Office of the Governor of New York — video, photos, and transcript of the signing ceremony Primary source
- Associated Press — New York bans chatbot features for children Secondary source
- PPC Land — Hochul signs law barring human-posing AI chatbots for under-18s Secondary source
- The Verge — New York governor signs law banning harmful AI chatbot features for kids Secondary source
A primary source comes directly from the company, lab or organization concerned. A secondary source reports the information without being its author: we flag it as such. Spotted an error? See our corrections policy.
