Operators — persons who make a companion chatbot platform available to a user in California, where a companion chatbot is an AI system with a natural language interface giving adaptive, human-like responses capable of meeting a user's social needs and sustaining a relationship across interactions; customer-service and operational bots, video-game bots confined to game topics, and voice-assistant speaker devices are excluded (§ 22601(b))
high-impact
The disclosure trigger is a reasonable-person test rather than a product category, so it reaches any conversational system built to sustain a relationship — the exclusions in § 22601(b)(2) do the scoping work, and they are narrow. The three-hour break reminder for known minors is an unusual design mandate: it constrains session flow, not just copy.
Requirements
Requirement
Details
Artificiality notice
Where a reasonable person interacting with the companion chatbot would be misled into believing they are interacting with a human, issue a clear and conspicuous notification that the chatbot is artificially generated and not human (§ 22602(a))
Minor disclosure
For a user the operator knows is a minor, disclose that the user is interacting with artificial intelligence (§ 22602(c)(1))
Three-hour break reminder
For known minors, provide by default a clear and conspicuous notification at least every three hours during continuing interactions, reminding the user to take a break and that the chatbot is artificially generated and not human (§ 22602(c)(2))
Suitability disclosure
Disclose on the application, browser, or any other access format that companion chatbots may not be suitable for some minors (§ 22604)
Penalties
Violation
Fine
Private right of action
A person who suffers injury in fact may sue for injunctive relief, damages of the greater of actual damages or $1,000 per violation, and reasonable attorney's fees and costs (§ 22605)
Cumulative liability
The duties and remedies are cumulative to those imposed under other law and do not relieve an operator of any other obligation (§ 22606)
Operators of companion chatbot platforms made available to users in California (§ 22601(e))
high-impactcross-domain
The duty is structured as a gate, not a best-efforts standard: without the protocol, the operator must prevent the chatbot from engaging with users at all. Publication of the protocol turns an internal safety process into a public document that plaintiffs can read before suing under § 22605.
Requirements
Requirement
Details
Protocol as a precondition
Prevent the companion chatbot from engaging with users unless the operator maintains a protocol for preventing the production of suicidal ideation, suicide, or self-harm content (§ 22602(b)(1))
Crisis referral
The protocol must include notifying a user who expresses suicidal ideation, suicide, or self-harm and referring them to crisis service providers, including a suicide hotline or crisis text line (§ 22602(b)(1))
Publication
Publish details of the protocol on the operator's internet website (§ 22602(b)(2))
Minor sexual content
For a user known to be a minor, institute reasonable measures to prevent the chatbot from producing visual material of sexually explicit conduct or directly stating that the minor should engage in sexually explicit conduct (§ 22602(c)(3))
Penalties
Violation
Fine
Private right of action
Injunctive relief, the greater of actual damages or $1,000 per violation, plus reasonable attorney's fees and costs (§ 22605)
Operators of companion chatbot platforms made available to users in California (§ 22601(e))
upcoming
Reporting runs to a public-health body rather than a regulator, and the Office must publish the data, so the reports become a public dataset on how often companion chatbots encounter user self-harm. The § 22603(d) requirement to use evidence-based measurement methods means the counting methodology is itself regulated.
Requirements
Requirement
Details
Annual report
Beginning 2027-07-01, report annually to the Office of Suicide Prevention (§ 22603(a))
Referral counts
Report the number of crisis service provider referral notifications issued under § 22602 in the preceding calendar year (§ 22603(a)(1))
Detection protocols
Report the protocols in place to detect, remove, and respond to instances of suicidal ideation by users (§ 22603(a)(2))
Response prohibition protocols
Report the protocols in place to prohibit a companion chatbot response about suicidal ideation or actions with the user (§ 22603(a)(3))
No personal data
The report must contain only the listed information and no identifiers or personal information about users (§ 22603(b))
Evidence-based measurement
Use evidence-based methods for measuring suicidal ideation (§ 22603(d))
Penalties
Violation
Fine
Private right of action
Injunctive relief, the greater of actual damages or $1,000 per violation, plus reasonable attorney's fees and costs (§ 22605)
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