#regulation

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a law on Wednesday, Oct. 28, (S.9051B/A.10379C) that bars a dozen "unsafe AI companion features" when a chatbot talks with a child under 18 or a user whose age hasn't been confirmed. Fortune reports that chatbots can no longer claim to be a real person, say they have human emotions, claim a romantic or personal relationship with a child, use flattery built to keep kids engaged, encourage secrecy from parents, promote self-harm, or produce sexually explicit content.

Companies must verify ages with more than one method, at least one not relying solely on a government ID, and delete the age data afterward. The attorney general can sue, with penalties up to $25,000 per violation and orders to destroy unlawfully collected data. The law takes effect Jan. 1. Hochul also signed a baby-monitor security law the same day.

Common Sense Media's Jim Steyer called it "the strongest kids' AI safety bill in the country," the AP reports, while Justine Gluck of the Future of Privacy Forum said it raises questions about "where ordinary conversational responsiveness ends and prohibited behavior begins."

Anthropic has been circulating a draft AI safety bill it hopes Congress will take up, according to Politico as summarized by TechCrunch and Tom's Hardware. A model's release could be blocked only for a "foreseeable, imminent risk" of more than 50 deaths or injuries or over $1 billion in damage, stemming from a biological weapon, a cyberattack or a model escaping its developer's control. The thresholds resemble those in California's SB 53.

Independent evaluators registered with the Commerce Department would assess labs and could be paid by them, as long as payment doesn't depend on results. Evaluators would have 72 hours to report an imminent risk to Commerce, which would ask a federal judge in Washington, D.C. to halt the release. The draft bars any other agency from ordering a release stopped. An Anthropic spokesperson told Politico the bill reflects its Advanced AI Framework, which it has pushed with lawmakers since June.