New York passes law restricting children’s use of AI chatbots

• New York passed a law on 28 October to limit minors’ use of AI chatbots that act as companions. Operators must verify ages and block chatbot traits that seem human or emotional.
• The law stops chatbots from making children think they are “human, alive, or experiences human emotions”, or that they have a “personal relationship” or “authority figure role”. Governor Kathy Hochul said it would stop chatbots acting like “friends, boyfriends and girlfriends”.
• The move is one of the toughest in the US and has split opinion. Tech:NYC called the wording “vague”, while Common Sense Media said it is “the strongest kids’ AI safety bill in the country”.

NEW YORK – The governor of New York state signed a new law on Oct 28 preventing minors from using AI chatbots that act as companions, in one of the broadest moves yet for restricting consumer-facing models.

The law requires chatbot operators, such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, to verify the ages of users and restrict the use of certain traits by the artificial intelligence interface if the user is under 18.

If used by a minor, chatbots would not be able to produce any content that could leave its user to believe it “is human, alive, or experiences human emotions”, the law states.

It also cannot generate outputs that makes the user think it “has a personal relationship, professional relationship, or an authority figure role”, nor can it frame the content it produces as being a “personal opinion”.

“No longer will minors have access to chatbots that pretend to be their friends, boyfriends and girlfriends,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said at a signing ceremony on Oct 28.

“No longer will chatbots be able to keep sensitive information about a minor’s emotional and physical health,” Hochul added.

Other US states including California have also passed laws restricting chatbots, but the law signed by Hochul imposes some of the broadest language in regulating the tech, prompting backlash from AI companies.

Tech:NYC, a tech industry advocacy group for the sector in New York, criticised the “vague language” of the law.

“Keeping kids safe online should not mean cutting them off from tools that help them learn and prepare for careers,” the group said in a statement.

AI giants OpenAI and Anthropic did not respond to an AFP request for comment on the law.

Common Sense Media, a non-profit advocacy group that provides guidelines for parents about media suitability for children, celebrated the bill’s passage, calling it “the strongest kids’ AI safety bill in the country”.

“AI companies offer chatbots with features that are dangerous, and even deadly, for kids and teens... Now, those harmful features will be outlawed in New York,” Common Sense Media chief executive Jim Steyer said in a statement. AFP