AI Chatbot Safeguards Signed into Law

On October 13, 2025, Governor Newsom vetoed AB 1064, Leading Ethical AI Development (LEAD) for Kids Act, which would have prohibited making a companion chatbot available to users under 18 years of age. In his veto message, Governor Newsom expressed that while he supported the author’s goal of establishing safeguards, AB 1064 “imposes such broad restrictions on the use of conversational AI tools that it may unintentionally lead to a total ban on the use of these products by minors.” Governor Newsom stressed the importance of evolving with AI advancements and stated that “it is imperative that adolescents learn how to safely interact with AI systems.” 

Instead, Governor Newsom signed SB 243 (Padilla), Companion Chatbots, which would: 

• If a reasonable person interacting with a companion chatbot would be misled to believe that the person is interacting with a human, require an operator of a companion chatbot platform to issue a clear and conspicuous notification indicating that the chatbot is artificially generated and not human.
• Require an operator to take certain actions with respect to a user the operator knows is a minor, including disclosing that the user is interacting with AI.
• Require an operator to prevent a companion chatbot on its platform from engaging with users unless the operator maintains a protocol for preventing the production of suicidal ideation, suicide, or self-harm content to the user; furthermore, the operator would be required to publish details on that protocol on the operator’s internet website.
• Beginning July 1, 2027, require an operator to annually report to the Office of Suicide Prevention certain things, including protocols put in place to detect, remove, and respond to instances of suicidal ideation by users, and would require the office to post data from that report on its website. 

SB 243 would also authorize a person who suffers injury as a result of noncompliance with this bill to bring civil action. 

It is worth noting that on October 13, 2025, Governor Newsom also approved AB 56, Social media: warning labels, which would require warning labels on social media platforms and age verifications by operating systems and app stores.  Beginning January 1, 2027, this bill would require social media platforms to:

• Display a skippable warning for 10 seconds when a child opens the app for the first time each day;
• Display a 30-second unskippable warning if they spend more than three hours on the site;
• Display another 30-second warning after every additional hour of use.