California Companion Chatbot Safeguards (SB 243)

Jurisdiction:
California
enforcing
Effective:
Jan 1, 2026
Full enforcement:
Jul 1, 2027
Authority:
California Office of Suicide Prevention
Official text
Amendments:
  • — SB 1119 (Chapter 190, Statutes of 2026), approved and chaptered on this date, rewrites Section 22602 without subdivision (c). The separate added Section 21812 expressly becomes operative July 1, 2027 under subdivision (e). The operative timing of the Section 22602 rewrite is not established here; no protection-gap duration or one-for-one equivalence is inferred.

Obligations Covered

Transparency & Disclosure Risk Assessment Incident Reporting

Timeline

MilestoneDateNotes
Approved by the GovernorOct 13, 2025Chapter 677, Statutes of 2025
OperativeJan 1, 2026Standard California effective date; no urgency clause
Annual reporting beginsJul 1, 2027First reports to the Office of Suicide Prevention (§ 22603)
SB 1119 approved and chapteredSep 10, 2026Chapter 190, Statutes of 2026, Section 1 rewrites Section 22602 without subdivision (c); operative timing of that rewrite is not mapped here
Separate Section 21812 operativeJul 1, 2027SB 1119 adds Section 21812; subdivision (e) expressly dates this section only, not the Section 22602 rewrite

Related Regulations and Standards

Related instruments are selected from shared compliance obligations and jurisdiction coverage.

Companion Chatbot Disclosure

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Obligation:
Transparency
enforcing
Effective:
Jan 1, 2026
Risk tier:
limited-risk
Scope:
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
For an operator of a companion chatbot platform within § 22601(b) and (e), the artificiality-notice duty uses a reasonable-person test. Section 22601(b)(2) excludes specified customer-service, video-game, and voice-assistant interactions. The minor-notice and three-hour reminder rows below describe Section 22602(c)(1)-(2) as chaptered by SB 243 in 2025. Retained SB 1119 (Chapter 190, Statutes of 2026), Section 1, rewrites Section 22602 without subdivision (c). Its separately added Section 21812 becomes operative July 1, 2027 under subdivision (e). This record does not establish when the Section 22602 rewrite operates or treat the two regimes as equivalent. The existing status and date fields are unchanged; they do not resolve this amendment-timing question.

Requirements

RequirementDetails
Artificiality noticeWhere 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 disclosureFor a user the operator knows is a minor, disclose that the user is interacting with artificial intelligence (§ 22602(c)(1)). This is the original SB 243 clause; SB 1119 Section 1 omits subdivision (c), but the rewrite's operative timing is not established here.
Three-hour break reminderFor 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)). This is the original SB 243 clause; SB 1119 Section 1 omits subdivision (c), but the rewrite's operative timing is not established here.
Suitability disclosureDisclose on the application, browser, or any other access format that companion chatbots may not be suitable for some minors (§ 22604)

Penalties

ViolationFine
Private right of actionA 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 liabilityThe duties and remedies are cumulative to those imposed under other law and do not relieve an operator of any other obligation (§ 22606)

Self-Harm Crisis Protocol

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Obligation:
Risk Assessment
enforcing
Effective:
Jan 1, 2026
Risk tier:
limited-risk
Scope:
Operators of companion chatbot platforms made available to users in California (§ 22601(e))
high-impactcross-domain
The duty is structured as a gate: without the protocol, the operator must prevent the chatbot from engaging with users. The operator must publish details of the protocol, not necessarily the full internal document (§ 22602(b)(2)). The minor sexual-content row below describes Section 22602(c)(3) as chaptered by SB 243 in 2025. Retained SB 1119 Section 1 rewrites Section 22602 without subdivision (c); its operative timing is not established here. The separately added Section 21812 expressly becomes operative July 1, 2027, with distinct child-user scope and remedies; it is not treated here as a one-for-one replacement. Existing status and date fields remain unchanged and do not decide that transition.

Requirements

RequirementDetails
Protocol as a preconditionPrevent 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 referralThe 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))
PublicationPublish details of the protocol on the operator's internet website (§ 22602(b)(2))
Minor sexual contentFor 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)). This is the original SB 243 clause; SB 1119 Section 1 omits subdivision (c), but the rewrite's operative timing is not established here.

Penalties

ViolationFine
Private right of actionInjunctive relief, the greater of actual damages or $1,000 per violation, plus reasonable attorney's fees and costs (§ 22605)

Annual Crisis Referral Reporting

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Obligation:
Incident Reporting
enacted
Effective:
Jul 1, 2027
Risk tier:
limited-risk
Scope:
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

RequirementDetails
Annual reportBeginning 2027-07-01, report annually to the Office of Suicide Prevention (§ 22603(a))
Referral countsReport the number of crisis service provider referral notifications issued under § 22602 in the preceding calendar year (§ 22603(a)(1))
Detection protocolsReport the protocols in place to detect, remove, and respond to instances of suicidal ideation by users (§ 22603(a)(2))
Response prohibition protocolsReport the protocols in place to prohibit a companion chatbot response about suicidal ideation or actions with the user (§ 22603(a)(3))
No personal dataThe report must contain only the listed information and no identifiers or personal information about users (§ 22603(b))
Evidence-based measurementUse evidence-based methods for measuring suicidal ideation (§ 22603(d))

Penalties

ViolationFine
Private right of actionInjunctive relief, the greater of actual damages or $1,000 per violation, plus reasonable attorney's fees and costs (§ 22605)
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