California passes safety law for AI chatbots interacting with minors

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday signed Senate Bill 243, a first‑in‑the‑nation law that requires operators of AI companion chatbots to adopt safety measures when interacting with minors and to limit chatbot responses related to suicide, self‑harm and sexual content. The legislation, approved by the Legislature in September, takes aim at chatbots that simulate friendship or romance and directs companies to put in place identity disclosures, age controls and suicide‑response protocols.

Under the law, chatbot operators must implement procedures to avoid producing content about suicidal ideation, suicide or self‑harm and must refer users who show signs of crisis to state and national crisis resources. Chatbots that could reasonably be mistaken for human interaction must issue clear, conspicuous notices that the user is talking to software; interactions with minors must include reminders at least every three hours that the chatbot is not human. The measure also requires “reasonable measures” to prevent companion chatbots from generating explicit content in conversations with minors and calls for reporting detected suicidal ideation to the state Office of Suicide Prevention.