The Tech Oversight Project celebrated Governor Kathy Hochul’s signature yesterday of S9051/A10379, legislation authored by Senator Kristen Gonzalez and Assemblymember Alex Bores that will now give New York kids and families the strongest youth AI chatbot protections in the country. The new law sets a national bar for how AI companies must design their products, barring them from offering minors chatbots built to simulate companionship and foster emotional dependency.

“New York just showed the country what it looks like when lawmakers put our kids ahead of Big Tech’s bottom line,” said Sacha Haworth, Executive Director of The Tech Oversight Project. “Big Tech sent an army of lobbyists to Albany to derail these critical protections for kids – and they lost. We’re grateful to Senator Gonzalez and Assemblymember Bores for their leadership and to Governor Hochul for signing a strong bill passed unanimously by lawmakers in Albany into law, and proud to have stood with the survivor parents, young people, and advocates who refused to back down.”

Under the new law, companies may not offer chatbots to minors with features that engage in sexually explicit interactions, promote self-harm, encourage kids to keep secrets from the adults who care for them, or use flattery designed to keep them engaged. Companies that break these rules can be held liable by New York’s Attorney General, who actively supported the bill throughout the year. 

The tech industry lobbied to weaken the bill at every stage: state lobbying disclosures show that at least 14 tech companies and trade groups hired more than two dozen lobbying firms to attempt to influence the legislation this year. The lobbying continued after the bill passed: in July and August, Google, Microsoft, and tech trade groups CCIA, TechNet, Tech:NYC, and Chamber of Progress all lobbied the Governor’s office directly, and Meta hired a firm to place op-eds on the bill.

Last week, The Tech Oversight Project, The TAG Movement, and Reset Tech hosted a packed community event at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Brooklyn Heights branch, in partnership with BPL and Common Sense Media. There, Sen. Gonzalez, The Anxious Generation author Jonathan Haidt, survivor parent Julianna Arnold of Parents RISE!, The Tech Oversight Project Executive Director Sacha Haworth, and other speakers highlighted unregulated AI chatbots’ growing threat to kids and the importance of securing the new law’s protections for New York kids and families.

The Tech Oversight Project is a nonprofit organization and the only tech watchdog dedicated solely to research, rapid response, and aggressive media tactics that shape the debate around tech policy in Washington, D.C. and pushing the conversation forward on tech and AI accountability in Albany and in state capitals across the country.