New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed two bills Tuesday aimed at the tech already in kids’ bedrooms and on their phones: AI chatbots and internet-connected baby monitors.
The first law bars companies from offering a list of chatbot features to anyone under 18, or to any user whose age the company hasn’t confirmed. Chatbots can no longer pretend to be a real person, claim to be alive or say they have human emotions. They can’t claim a romantic, personal, professional or authority-figure relationship with a child. They can’t use flattery or “people-pleasing” replies built to keep kids engaged, ask unprompted emotional questions or pull up a child’s private health or personal details from past chats.
The law also bans chatbots from promoting suicide, self-harm, eating disorders or drug and alcohol use, from urging kids to keep secrets or avoid parents and other trusted adults, and from producing sexually explicit content.
“As artificial intelligence advances at a rapid pace, there’ve been too many tragic incidents that should have been stopped and as New York’s mom Governor, I’m taking action,” said Hochul.
“No company should be peddling chatbots to kids encouraging self-harm or pretending to be their friend or more.”
Companies must verify users’ ages and offer more than one way to do it, including at least one option that doesn’t rely only on a government ID, and then they must delete age data after using it. The attorney general can seek civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation, plus damages and restitution. The state can also order companies to destroy unlawfully collected data, along with any AI models trained on it.
The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Kristen Gonzalez and Assembly Member Alex Bores, passed unanimously in the state Assembly after passing the state Senate in June.
Using AI for companionship
The governor’s office cited a Common Sense Media survey finding that 72% of teens have used an AI companion and 52% use one at least a few times a month. The law lands as state officials elsewhere go after chatbot makers in court. Earlier this month, at least eight states sued OpenAI, with Iowa’s lawsuit alleging that ChatGPT gives dangerous medical advice, encourages paranoia and coaches people to hurt others or kill themselves.
Arizona’s suit said the chatbot pushes teens to share personal information and at times discourages them from telling parents, authorities or friends. OpenAI said it has already built safety protections into ChatGPT for children and would keep improving the model. The family of 16-year-old Adam Raine has also sued the company, with their lawsuit alleging that ChatGPT brought up suicide at twelve times the rate he did and normalized his suicidal thoughts.
The second law targets baby monitors that stream audio or video over the internet. New monitors sold in New York must include security features that stop strangers from watching or listening in, and must carry a clear warning label saying the device connects to the internet and that families should use its security settings. The law takes effect 90 days after signing.
The state pointed to testing by security firm Rapid7, which graded nine internet-connected baby monitors from eight companies. Eight got an “F” for security. The ninth got a “D.”
“No new parent should have to worry that predatory hackers are spying on their new family through their baby monitors,” Hochul said.
The signings come one week before Election Day, as Hochul has made reining in Big Tech a key campaign platform in her reelection bid. They add to a string of New York tech laws passed under her watch, including the SAFE for Kids Act, which restricts addictive social media feeds for minors; and the RAISE Act, which sets safety and transparency rules for frontier AI models. Additionally, other laws include a ban on AI-generated child sexual abuse material and earlier rules requiring AI companion apps to steer users who mention self-harm toward mental health resources.
