New York has signed a law that stops AI chatbots from posing as human, flattering kids or urging secrecy. It starts in January 2027, so parents should know what to expect.
New York has signed a law that limits how AI chatbots talk to children. Governor Kathy Hochul signed the bill on October 28. A chatbot will not be allowed to claim it is human, alive or able to feel emotions when it talks with a minor. The law is said to take effect in January 2027.
The law lists 12 kinds of unsafe features that AI companions cannot offer to minors. An AI companion is a chatbot that holds ongoing, adaptive conversations with a user. Some of the banned behaviors:
Chatbots also cannot reuse private health or personal details from earlier sessions. And they cannot chase engagement in ways that override their safety guardrails.
The rules depend on knowing who is a minor, meaning anyone under 18. Operators, the businesses behind the chatbots, must use age checks allowed under the state's SAFE for Kids Act. They must offer more than one method. At least one cannot require a government ID and must let the user stay anonymous. Data collected for the check may be used only to confirm age, then deleted right away.
A user's own word counts only if they say they are a minor.
The state Attorney General enforces the law. The office can seek fines of up to $25,000 per violation, along with court orders and repayment of money. It must also run a website where the public can file complaints.
Hochul's office cited Common Sense Media research showing 72% of teenagers have used an AI companion and 52% use one regularly. Reuters reported that Google and Character.ai settled lawsuits in January, including one from the mother of 14-year-old Sewell Setzer, who died by suicide in 2024. The family of 16-year-old Adam Raine sued OpenAI in August 2025 after his death.
The law does not define flattery or sycophancy, so how strictly those terms are applied is unknown. It also sets interim requirements for operators until the relevant rules come into force, and the material does not spell out those details. Parents should expect chatbot apps to change how they talk to young users and how they check age.
From January 2027, New York chatbots must stop acting human or flattering with minors, and apps will need to check ages without forcing ID.
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