EveryAILaw.comDoes California Companion Chatbot Safeguards (SB 243) require Risk Assessment?
California • enforcing
Yes — 1 provision
Requirements at a glance
This regulation imposes 4 specific requirements for Risk Assessment across 1 provision:
- 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))
Self-Harm Crisis Protocol #
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) |