AI Chatbot Laws Are Emerging as a Hot-Ticket Item for States - Bloomberg Law News

This Bloomberg Law Data article contains step-by-step instructions that show Bloomberg Law subscribers how to conduct this research on their own. See GENERATE THE DATA below.

State legislatures have transformed the regulatory landscape for AI chatbots. Fifteen US states have enacted chatbot laws, according to Bloomberg Lawâs AI Tracker, and the pace is accelerating â 10 of those laws were signed in 2026 alone.

Whatâs emerging isnât a single, uniform framework but a patchwork of overlapping requirements that include three broad regulatory categories: transparency and disclosure mandates, minor safety protections, and professional licensing restrictions.

- California, New Jersey, and Maine require chatbot operators to disclose to users that theyâre interacting with AI rather than a human being, with nuanced differences among the laws.

- The largest and most detailed category encompasses laws imposing heightened safety obligations when chatbot operators know or should know that a user is a minor. This category has exploded in 2026, with states including California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Nebraska, Hawaii, and Rhode Island all enacting minor-protection frameworks. The laws prohibit sexually explicit material and emotionally manipulative interactions simulating romantic relationships and âunpredictable reward systemsâ designed to encourage continued minor engagement. They also mandate suicide and self-harm detection and crisis-referral protocols.

- A third category of laws addresses AI systems that hold themselves out as providing licensed professional services â particularly mental and behavioral health care. Nevada, Tennessee, and Maine all prohibit AI providers from marketing or representing AI systems as qualified mental health professionals.

GENERATE THE DATA

To replicate the research that was used for this article:

1. Visit Bloomberg Lawâs AI Laws, Regulations, and Guidance Tracker page.

(Bloomberg Terminal subscribers: Run BLAW OUT and search for âAI Laws, Regulations, and Guidance Trackerâ.)

2. In the âFiltersâ column on the left side of the page, select âFinal Legislationâ in the Document Type filter.

The AI tracker is a tool that allows users to easily search through or set alerts for AI developments, including laws; regulations; and other agency actions.

2. Scroll down the âFiltersâ column to the âTopicâ filter and select âchatbots.â

The resulting list can be used to quickly and efficiently identify and summarize relevant enacted state chatbot legislation. The list can be further modified using additional filters such as the âStateâ or âDateâ filter.

Because Bloomberg Lawâs research tools are regularly updated, usersâ results when following these instructions may differ from the results generated for this article.

If youâre reading this article on the Bloomberg Terminal, please run BLAW OUT <GO> to access the hyperlinked content or click here to view the web version of this article.

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