AB 2023 — Companion chatbots: children's safety.

Summary

Existing law generally regulates artificial intelligence, including companion chatbots, as defined. Existing law requires an operator, as defined, to prevent a companion chatbot on its companion chatbot 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. Existing law requires an operator, for a user the operator knows is a minor, to, among other things, notify the user that the user is interacting with artificial intelligence and to disclose that companion chatbots may not be suitable for some minors, as specified. The Digital Age Assurance Act requires a person who owns, maintains, or controls a software application, as defined, to request age bracket data sent by a real-time secure application programming interface or operating system with respect to a particular user from an operating system provider or a covered application store when the application is downloaded and launched. This bill would require an operator, as defined, of a companion chatbot to, on or before July 1, 2027, do various things with respect to child safety and companion chatbots, including annually perform and document a comprehensive risk assessment to identify any child safety risk, as defined, posed by the design, configuration, and operation of the companion chatbot that assesses, among other things, the likelihood of a covered harm, as defined, occurring to child users. The bill would require an operator to submit to an independent audit of its compliance with those provisions, as specified, and would require, within 90 days of completing an independent audit, the auditor to submit an AI child safety audit report to the Attorney General for any audited companion chatbot. The bill would, except as specified, require those audit reports to be kept confidential. This bill would, beginning January 1, 2028, require the Attorney General to issue an annual public report on the audits submitted pursuant to the above-described provision, as specified. The bill would authorize a public prosecutor to bring a certain civil action to enforce the bill's provisions and would authorize a child who suffers actual harm as a result of a violation of this chapter, or a parent or guardian acting on behalf of that child, to bring a civil action against the operator to obtain, among other relief, punitive damages. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

Bill Text

• Amended 06/17/26 - Amended Senate Current pdf June 17, 2026
• Amended 04/27/26 - Amended Assembly pdf April 27, 2026
• Amended 04/13/26 - Amended Assembly pdf April 13, 2026
• Amended 03/25/26 - Amended Assembly pdf March 25, 2026
• Amended 03/19/26 - Amended Assembly pdf March 19, 2026
• Introduced 02/17/26 - Introduced pdf February 17, 2026
• AB2023 View text html

Action History

1. August 13, 2026

   Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

2. August 13, 2026

   From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (August 13).

3. August 03, 2026

   In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file.

4. June 24, 2026

   From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 13. Noes 0.) (June 23). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

5. June 17, 2026

   Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD.

6. June 16, 2026

   From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 7. Noes 1.) (June 15).

7. June 03, 2026

   Referred to Coms. on P., D.T., & C.P. and JUD.

8. May 27, 2026

   In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.

9. May 26, 2026

   Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 66. Noes 8.)

10. May 18, 2026

    Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

11. May 14, 2026

    From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 3.) (May 14).

12. May 14, 2026

    Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 5030.)

13. May 13, 2026

    In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file.

14. April 28, 2026

    Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

15. April 27, 2026

    Read second time and amended.

16. April 23, 2026

    From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 13. Noes 2.) (April 21).

17. April 14, 2026

    Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P.

18. April 13, 2026

    From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. Read second time and amended.

19. April 13, 2026

    In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.

20. March 26, 2026

    Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P.

21. March 25, 2026

    From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. Read second time and amended.

22. March 23, 2026

    Re-referred to Com. on P. & C.P.

23. March 19, 2026

    Referred to Coms. on P. & C.P. and JUD.

24. March 19, 2026

    From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on P. & C.P. Read second time and amended.

25. February 18, 2026

    From printer. May be heard in committee March 20.

26. February 17, 2026

    Read first time. To print.

Sponsors

• Padilla · Cosponsor
• Rebecca Bauer-Kahan · Cosponsor
• Buffy Wicks · Primary

Votes

Subjects