Social RoboticsNew York enacts AI chatbot child safety law
Governor Kathy Hochul signed rules requiring age checks and barring chatbots from posing as friends or partners to minors.
New York's new law obliges AI chatbot companies to verify users' ages, offering at least one method that does not rely solely on government ID, and to delete age data afterwards. For minors or unverified users, chatbots may not claim to be alive or to have feelings, may not present themselves as a romantic partner, friend or authority figure, and may not encourage secrecy, isolation, self-harm or substance use. Breaches can bring civil penalties of up to $25,000 each, and the law takes effect six months after signing. Its limits on simulated emotion and relationships go to the heart of how companion agents, including embodied ones, are designed.
Source: Engadget
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