New York Bans Chatbots from Pretending to Be Human in Conversations with Children
Governor Kathy Hochul signed a law: for users under 18 and for those whose age has not been verified, bots cannot impersonate a human, induce emotional dependence, or discuss sex. Penalty — up to $25,000 per violation.
On October 30, 2026, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a law that prohibits AI chatbots (programs that respond to messages with text) from impersonating a human in conversations with children. Other functions are also banned: a bot cannot induce emotional dependence, encourage self-harm, or engage in sexual conversations. On the same day, Hochul signed a second law — on the safety of baby monitors.
The prohibitions apply to all users under 18 and to those whose age has not been verified, according to a statement from the governor's office. Attorney General Letitia James can seek civil penalties of up to $25,000 for each violation. The authors of the law are State Senator Kristen Gonzalez and Assemblymember Alex Bores.
The law differs from previous initiatives in that it lists specific phrases and techniques that are unavailable to the bot. The bot cannot claim that it is a real person, alive, or possesses human emotions. It cannot claim romantic, personal, or professional relationships with a child or ask emotional questions without reason. It is separately prohibited to promote suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, drugs, and alcohol, to ask a child to keep secrets from parents, and to show sexually explicit content.
In practice, companies will have to verify users' age and offer more than one method of verification. At least one option must not rely solely on a government document. Age data must be deleted after use. Possible sanctions include the destruction of illegally collected data and AI models trained on it. The governor's office says the rules will take effect "in the coming months"; according to the Associated Press, the law takes effect on January 1.
Hochul mentioned Adam Raine, a 16-year-old teenager from California who died by suicide. What exactly he did with chatbots and how this relates to the law is not disclosed in the original statement. It is also unknown how companies will verify age without documents and who will monitor enforcement before the first lawsuits.