EveryAILaw.comDoes Nebraska Conversational Artificial Intelligence Safety Act (LB 525) require Risk Assessment?
Nebraska • enacted
Yes — 2 provisions
Requirements at a glance
This regulation imposes 7 specific requirements for Risk Assessment across 2 provisions:
- No variable-ratio engagement rewards — Do not provide a minor account holder with points or similar rewards at unpredictable intervals with the intent to encourage increased engagement with the service (sec. 14(2))
- Prevent sexually explicit output — Institute reasonable measures to prevent the service from producing visual depictions of sexually explicit conduct, generating direct statements that the account holder should engage in sexually explicit conduct, or generating statements that sexually objectify the account holder (sec. 14(3)(a)-(c))
- Prevent human-simulation output — Institute reasonable measures to prevent the service from generating statements that would lead a reasonable person to believe they are interacting with a human (sec. 14(4))
- Enumerated anthropomorphic outputs — The prevention duty expressly covers explicit claims that the service is sentient or human, statements simulating emotional dependence, statements simulating romantic or sexual innuendos, and role-playing of adult-minor romantic relationships (sec. 14(4)(a)-(d))
- Adopt a crisis protocol — Adopt a protocol for the conversational AI service to respond to user prompts regarding suicidal ideation or self-harm (sec. 16)
- Crisis referral — The protocol must include making reasonable efforts to provide a response referring the user to crisis service providers such as a suicide hotline, crisis text line, or other appropriate crisis services (sec. 16)
- Non-exhaustive floor — The enumerated referral content is a minimum — the protocol "includes, but is not limited to" that element (sec. 16)
Minor Engagement, Sexual Content, and Anthropomorphism Safeguards #
Nebraska's engagement ban is narrower than Washington's eight-technique list: it reaches only variable-ratio rewards — points or similar rewards at unpredictable intervals with intent to increase engagement — leaving other retention mechanics untouched. The anthropomorphism duty is unusual in naming simulated emotional dependence and adult-minor romantic role-play as specific outputs the operator must take reasonable measures to prevent.
Requirements
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| No variable-ratio engagement rewards | Do not provide a minor account holder with points or similar rewards at unpredictable intervals with the intent to encourage increased engagement with the service (sec. 14(2)) |
| Prevent sexually explicit output | Institute reasonable measures to prevent the service from producing visual depictions of sexually explicit conduct, generating direct statements that the account holder should engage in sexually explicit conduct, or generating statements that sexually objectify the account holder (sec. 14(3)(a)-(c)) |
| Prevent human-simulation output | Institute reasonable measures to prevent the service from generating statements that would lead a reasonable person to believe they are interacting with a human (sec. 14(4)) |
| Enumerated anthropomorphic outputs | The prevention duty expressly covers explicit claims that the service is sentient or human, statements simulating emotional dependence, statements simulating romantic or sexual innuendos, and role-playing of adult-minor romantic relationships (sec. 14(4)(a)-(d)) |
Penalties
| Violation | Fine |
|---|---|
| Attorney General enforcement | The Attorney General may enforce the act and may bring a civil action for appropriate relief against an operator, on behalf of the State of Nebraska or on behalf of any person aggrieved by a violation (sec. 18(1), sec. 18(2)(a)) |
| Relief available | Preliminary and other equitable or declaratory relief; an award of actual damages; reasonable expenses of bringing the action including court costs, reasonable attorney's fees, investigative costs, witness fees, and deposition costs (sec. 18(2)(b)(i), (ii), (iv)) |
| Civil penalties | At least $1,000 per violation, but no more than $500,000 per operator; penalties recovered are remitted to the State Treasurer under Article VII, section 5 of the Nebraska Constitution (sec. 18(2)(b)(iii)) |
| Private right of action | None — nothing in the act shall be interpreted as creating a private right of action (sec. 18(3)) |
| Developer carve-out | The act creates no liability for the developer of an AI model for a violation by a conversational AI system developed by a third-party operator to provide a service for that developer (sec. 18(4)) |
Suicide and Self-Harm Response Protocol #
Nebraska states the crisis duty in a single sentence and, unlike Washington, does not gate deployment on having the protocol, name eating disorders, or require any public disclosure of referral counts — the duty is to adopt a protocol and make reasonable efforts to refer. The "includes, but is not limited to" framing leaves the floor open, which means the Attorney General, not the statute, will set the practical content of an adequate protocol.
Requirements
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Adopt a crisis protocol | Adopt a protocol for the conversational AI service to respond to user prompts regarding suicidal ideation or self-harm (sec. 16) |
| Crisis referral | The protocol must include making reasonable efforts to provide a response referring the user to crisis service providers such as a suicide hotline, crisis text line, or other appropriate crisis services (sec. 16) |
| Non-exhaustive floor | The enumerated referral content is a minimum — the protocol "includes, but is not limited to" that element (sec. 16) |
Penalties
| Violation | Fine |
|---|---|
| Attorney General enforcement | The Attorney General may enforce the act and may bring a civil action for appropriate relief against an operator, on behalf of the State of Nebraska or on behalf of any person aggrieved by a violation (sec. 18(1), sec. 18(2)(a)) |
| Relief available | Preliminary and other equitable or declaratory relief; an award of actual damages; reasonable expenses of bringing the action including court costs, reasonable attorney's fees, investigative costs, witness fees, and deposition costs (sec. 18(2)(b)(i), (ii), (iv)) |
| Civil penalties | At least $1,000 per violation, but no more than $500,000 per operator; penalties recovered are remitted to the State Treasurer under Article VII, section 5 of the Nebraska Constitution (sec. 18(2)(b)(iii)) |
| Private right of action | None — nothing in the act shall be interpreted as creating a private right of action (sec. 18(3)) |
| Developer carve-out | The act creates no liability for the developer of an AI model for a violation by a conversational AI system developed by a third-party operator to provide a service for that developer (sec. 18(4)) |