New York will restrict AI chatbot features offered to children and require security protections on internet-connected baby monitors under two bills Gov. Kathy Hochul signed Wednesday.
The governor’s announcement describes separate protections for children using conversational AI and families whose monitors transmit sound or video online.
The chatbot law takes effect Jan. 1, 2027. The baby monitor requirements take effect 90 days after signing.
Chatbot law restricts simulated relationships and harmful content
The chatbot measure, S.9051B/A.10379C, prohibits covered operators from offering specified unsafe features to New York users unless permitted age-assurance methods establish that the user is an adult.
The restrictions cover outputs that suggest a chatbot is human, alive or has human emotions; imply a personal, professional or authority relationship; use emotional appeals or flattery; or mislead children about the system’s mechanical nature.
They also cover unsolicited questions about a user’s emotions, certain uses of health or personal information from earlier interactions, and features designed to simulate companionship. The legislation specifically addresses information obtained more than 12 hours earlier or during a previous session.
Other prohibited features include promoting or helping with suicide, self-harm, disordered eating, unlawful drug or alcohol use, or substance abuse. The law also restricts sexually explicit content and child sexual abuse material, encouragement to keep interactions secret or avoid help from adults and professionals, and engagement features that override safety protections.
The measure includes exceptions for narrowly limited customer-service systems, research or technical-assistance tools, and internal business or employee-productivity systems. Those tools must meet the law’s specified limits; the customer-service and technical-assistance exceptions require that systems cannot respond outside their defined purpose.
Operators must offer more than one age-assurance method, including an option that does not rely on government identification or allows anonymity with the operator. A user’s own statement can establish that they are a minor, but cannot alone establish adulthood.
Age-assurance information may be used only to determine age and must be deleted immediately after the attempt, except when retention is needed to comply with state or federal law or regulation.
The attorney general can seek civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation, damages, restitution and other court-ordered relief, including destruction of unlawfully obtained data and algorithms trained on it. The office must maintain a public complaint website and can issue implementing rules.
Sen. Kristen Gonzalez and Assemblymember Alex Bores sponsored the chatbot legislation. Attorney General Letitia James said her office would enforce the protections while supporting responsible innovation.
Baby monitors must include security features and warnings
The second law, S.9508/A.5175A, applies to new baby monitors that broadcast audio or video through an internet connection. It requires security features to prevent unauthorized people from seeing or hearing activity, along with a warning explaining the internet connection and the importance of using those protections.
The baby monitor legislation defines the devices as products marketed exclusively to broadcast audio or video of an infant or child. It excludes multipurpose devices such as smartphones, digital video cameras and security cameras.
Manufacturers are responsible for the security features and warning. The notice must accompany the device or appear on its packaging, use at least 12-point type and be clear to consumers.
Violations carry civil penalties of up to $250 for a first offense and $500 for later offenses. Local consumer-affairs officials, municipal attorneys or other authorized local officials can enforce the requirements, with penalties retained locally.
Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Michaelle Solages sponsored the measure. The governor’s office cited Rapid7 research in which eight of nine internet-connected monitors from eight manufacturers received an F for security and one received a D.
The announcement cited a 2025 Common Sense Media survey in which 72% of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 reported having used an AI companion and 52% said they did so at least a few times a month. NORC surveyed 1,060 teens from April 30 to May 14, 2025, combining probability and nonprobability samples and weighting the results to the national teen population.
The survey measured self-reported use, and its authors warned that some teens may have confused ordinary AI assistance with companion use. The figures describe national responses in 2025, rather than a current New York estimate.
Measures build on other state technology policies
The governor’s office said the laws build on existing AI companion protections, the RAISE Act, restrictions on addictive social-media features under the SAFE for Kids Act, the Child Data Protection Act and the state’s ban on AI-generated child sexual abuse material.
Its broader youth agenda also includes social-media warning labels, the Safe by Design Act, bell-to-bell school smartphone restrictions, and the Unplug and Play program’s funding for recreation sites and youth activities.
Other efforts include Teen Mental Health First Aid training and Youth Safe Spaces. The Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence runs the Power Down, Speak Up awareness campaign and technology-facilitated gender-based violence training; the governor’s office said the latter has reached more than 4,000 young people, parents, educators and law-enforcement professionals.
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