Protections under a California law designed to protect children from harms associated with AI companion chatbots may soon apply more broadly.
Before, the law applied certain child-specific obligations only to operators of covered AI companion chatbots that knew they were interacting with children. Now, if SB 119 is passed into law, operators of these covered companion chatbots would have an obligation to verify the age of each user or else apply the child-safety protections to all users.
In other words, if operators of covered AI companion chatbots do not verify users’ ages, they may need to implement a list of child-safety protections more broadly across all users, or risk significant civil penalties of up to $5,000 per affected child for each negligent violation and up to $15,000 per affected child for each intentional violation.
This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Readers should consult counsel regarding how California SB 1119 or any related laws may apply to their specific products, services, or business practices.
Featured image: AI-generated illustration created for this article.
