Thirteen bills landed on Governor Gavin Newsom's desk this week, and by Thursday all thirteen had his signature on them. Most coverage is calling it the strongest child-safety package any state has passed for social media and AI chatbots combined. That's not really an exaggeration this time. Some of what's in these bills doesn't exist anywhere else in US law yet, and a few pieces of it are going to matter to anyone building or deploying a chatbot, not just the companies these laws were written to target. If you run a product with any kind of AI conversation feature, or you're writing about compliance for a living, this is worth reading past the headline. The chatbot bill: Senate Bill 1119 SB 1119 is the one drawing the most attention, and for good reason. It sets new requirements for any AI chatbot operator whose product could reasonably be used by minors. Companies now have to build in parental controls, send notifications if a child disables a chatbot's saf...
Thirteen bills landed on Governor Gavin Newsom's desk this week, and by Thursday all thirteen had his signature on them. Most coverage is calling it the strongest child-safety package any state has passed for social media and AI chatbots combined. That's not really an exaggeration this time. Some of what's in these bills doesn't exist anywhere else in US law yet, and a few pieces of it are going to matter to anyone building or deploying a chatbot, not just the companies these laws were written to target. If you run a product with any kind of AI conversation feature, or you're writing about compliance for a living, this is worth reading past the headline. The chatbot bill: Senate Bill 1119 SB 1119 is the one drawing the most attention, and for good reason. It sets new requirements for any AI chatbot operator whose product could reasonably be used by minors. Companies now have to build in parental controls, send notifications if a child disables a chatbot's saf...