EveryAILaw.comDoes California Companion Chatbot Safeguards (SB 243) require Transparency & Disclosure?
California • enforcing
Yes — 1 provision
Requirements at a glance
This regulation imposes 4 specific requirements for Transparency & Disclosure across 1 provision:
- 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)
Companion Chatbot Disclosure #
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) |